Cicoria Ripassata con Fave Secche e Olio Nuovo Lucano

Basilicata, southern Italy

The Lucana version of the ancient pairing of wild chicory and dried broad beans (fave e cicoria) — found across southern Italy but with distinct regional character here. Split dried fave are soaked overnight and boiled until they collapse into a thick, rough purée with no water remaining. Wild chicory (or cultivated catalogna) is blanched in heavily salted boiling water then plunged into ice water to set its colour and remove excess bitterness. The greens are then ripassata — briefly tossed in a pan with olive oil, crushed garlic and dried peperoncino over high heat. The fave purée is spooned into the base of a warmed bowl; the ripassata cicoria is mounded on top; the whole is flooded with newly pressed Lucana olive oil (olio nuovo) with its characteristic peppery finish. Served with toasted cracked-wheat bread.

Earthen, starchy fave with mineral bitterness from wild chicory; the olio nuovo's pepper and grass is the dominant flavour above both; garlic and peperoncino provide aromatic and heat counterpoint.