P
Italian · Puglia
Fave e Cicoria Pugliese
The iconic cucina povera dish of Puglia: a silky purée of dried fava beans topped with sautéed wild chicory in olive oil. The dried fave are skinned (traditionally the dried split fave that have already been halved and husked), soaked overnight, then cooked slowly with water, salt, and olive oil until they collapse into a smooth, almost polenta-like consistency. Wild chicory (cicoria selvatica) is boiled until tender, then passed through olive oil with garlic and peperoncino. The two components are served together but never mixed — the white fava purée and dark green chicory side by side is the canonical presentation.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
400 g
dried split fava beans (fave decorticate)
skinned and halved; soaked overnight in cold water, drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
800 g
wild chicory (cicoria selvatica)
trimmed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 litre
cold water
to start the fave from cold
Your own market
1 piece
dried potato
peeled; added to the pot during cooking to absorb excess water
Origin · FranceLekker · Vancouver →
120 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
divided: part for cooking the fave, part stirred in raw at the end
Your own market
2 cloves
garlic
lightly crushed
Your own market
1
peperoncino
dried, whole or crumbled
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
fine salt
adjusted only at the end of cooking
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the soaked, drained fave in a heavy pot and cover with 1 litre of cold water — starting cold draws out residual skin fragments and bitter compounds. Add the piece of dried potato and a generous pour of olive oil. Bring slowly to a bare simmer over low heat. The surface should tremble, never boil. Cook uncovered for 60–90 minutes, skimming any grey foam that rises in the first minutes.
2
This is where the dish lives or dies. As the fave begin to collapse — after roughly 60 minutes — stir vigorously and continuously with a wooden spoon, working against the base of the pot. The purée must come together into a dense, textured mass that holds a furrow when the spoon is drawn through it. Do not blend; do not pass through a sieve. The result should resemble a rough, ivory-coloured polenta, not a smooth paste. Remove the potato piece.
From the canon — Polenta is the principal cooked grain preparation of northern Italy — from the Veneto through Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Polenta — The Correct Technique and Regional Variations →
3
Season with salt only now that the purée has fully thickened — early salting can cause uneven seasoning as the water reduces. Stir in 5–6 tablespoons of raw extra-virgin olive oil per portion off the heat; the oil emulsifies into the purée, giving it its characteristic richness and sheen. Keep warm.
4
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the wild chicory and cook until fully tender and the bitterness has mellowed — 10–15 minutes depending on leaf thickness. The chicory must be soft, not al dente. Drain and squeeze lightly.
5
Warm a generous pour of olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and peperoncino and let them colour gently until fragrant — 1–2 minutes. Add the drained chicory and turn it through the oil so every leaf is coated and glistening. The smell of garlic and peperoncino should be assertive but not acrid.
6
Serve the white fave purée and the dark green cicoria side by side on a wide plate or in a shallow bowl — the two components are never mixed. Finish with a thread of raw olive oil over both. The canonical presentation is the contrast of colours; the cook tastes for the balance of earthy richness against herbal bitterness before the plate leaves the kitchen.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Fave decorticate from a named Puglian producer, cold-pressed Apulian extra-virgin olive oil of the current harvest, and foraged wild cicoria selvatica — the bitterest and most aromatic variety available.
02
Estate — Branded Italian fave decorticate, a good southern Italian extra-virgin olive oil, and wild chicory sourced from a specialist greengrocer or farmers' market.
03
Market — Dried split fava beans of any reliable provenance, a robust extra-virgin olive oil, and cultivated chicory (cicoria catalogna) — flavourful though measurably less bitter than the wild form.
04
House — Any available dried split fava beans, standard extra-virgin olive oil, and radicchio or escarole as a substitute green — a fundamentally different flavour profile, acknowledged as a compromise.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The fave purée holds a clear furrow drawn by the wooden spoon and has a matte ivory surface with an oily sheen after the raw oil is stirred in.
◇Touch. A spoonful of purée lifted and dropped falls in a slow, heavy ribbon — dense and textured, not liquid, not stiff.
◇Sight. The chicory leaves are uniformly dark green, fully limp, and glistening with olive oil — no pale or fibrous stems remaining.
◇Smell. The finished cicoria smells of warm garlic and peperoncino without any sharpness of raw allium — the garlic has softened into the oil.
◇Where it lives or dies. The purée must be worked with a wooden spoon into a dense, textured, furrow-holding mass — blending or insufficient stirring produces a gluey paste that is categorically the wrong dish.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Agave spirit
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year