Fave e Cicoria Pugliese

Ingredients

• 400 g dried split fava beans (fave decorticate), skinned and halved; soaked overnight in cold water, drained
• 800 g wild chicory (cicoria selvatica), trimmed
• 1 litre cold water, to start the fave from cold
• 1 piece dried potato, peeled; added to the pot during cooking to absorb excess water
• 120 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided: part for cooking the fave, part stirred in raw at the end
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 1 peperoncino, dried, whole or crumbled
• 1 tsp fine salt, adjusted only at the end of cooking

Method

1. 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. 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.
3. 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. 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. 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. 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.