Fave e Cicoria — Dried Fava Purée with Wild Chicory

Ingredients

• For the fava purée
• 500 g dried split fava beans, fave secche sgusciate; soaked overnight in cold water, drained
• 2 waxy potatoes, peeled, halved — optional but traditional in some versions for creaminess
• 1 garlic clove, whole, peeled
• 1 celery stalk, whole
• 100 ml raw Pugliese extra-virgin olive oil, DOP Terra di Bari or DOP Dauno preferred; plus extra to finish
• fine sea salt
• black pepper, freshly ground
• For the cicoria
• 800 g wild chicory, cicoria selvatica; or the bitterest cultivated variety available, trimmed
• coarse sea salt, for the boiling water and for dressing
• 30 ml raw Pugliese extra-virgin olive oil, to dress the cicoria while still hot

Method

1. 1
   Drain the soaked fava beans and place in a large saucepan. Cover with fresh cold water by at least 5 cm. Add the potatoes, the garlic clove, and the celery stalk. Bring to the boil, skim any foam that rises, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 45–60 minutes until the fava beans and potatoes are completely soft and collapsing — a bean pressed between finger and thumb should offer no resistance whatsoever.
2. 2
   Discard the celery stalk. Pass the fava beans and potatoes together through a food mill or mouli — not a blender, which produces a gluey, homogeneous paste. The mouli gives the purée its characteristic slightly irregular, almost frothy texture. Work in batches if necessary until all the solids have passed through.
3. 3
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Return the passed purée to a clean pan over low heat. Beat in a generous quantity of raw olive oil — the purée should absorb the oil progressively, becoming rich, voluptuous, and almost whipped in consistency. Season with fine salt and freshly ground black pepper. The finished purée must be deeply oiled and giving; a mean, tight purée is a failure. Taste and adjust salt.
4. 4
   Bring a large pot of abundantly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the wild chicory and cook for 8–10 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Dress immediately with raw olive oil and a pinch of sea salt while the leaves are still steaming hot — the heat opens the greens to the oil. The cicoria should retain its deep, astringent bitterness and a slight chew.
5. 5
   Spoon the fava purée into warmed shallow bowls. Use the back of the spoon to form a hollow at the centre. Pile the dressed cicoria alongside. Finish with a generous puddle of raw Pugliese olive oil in the hollow of the purée. The plate should show ivory-beige purée against dark-green cicoria, with the oil catching the light.