Italian · Puglia

Macco di Fave Pugliese con Cicoria

Puglia's dried broad bean purée served with sautéed bitter chicory — one of the most ancient preparations of the Mezzogiorno, documented from Greek-colonial Puglia. Dried peeled broad beans are soaked and boiled slowly until they dissolve completely into a thick, earthy purée. The chicory (cicoria di campo) is blanched and sautéed in olive oil and garlic. The two are served separately on the plate — the white-yellow purée against the dark green chicory — to be mixed as the diner eats. The entire flavour depends on the olive oil poured over both: at minimum 4 tablespoons of the best Pugliese DOP.

ServesFour portions

Sourced0of 5 in BC

Cook

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400 g

dried peeled broad beans (fave secche pelate)

soaked overnight in cold water

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

600 g

cicoria di campo (wild field chicory)

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

60 ml

extra-virgin olive oil, Pugliese DOP

plus more for finishing — minimum 4 tablespoons over the finished dish

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

garlic cloves

lightly crushed

Your own market

1 tsp

fine sea salt

added only after beans have fully dissolved

Your own market

The Method

Drain the soaked beans and transfer to a large heavy pot. Cover with fresh cold water by at least 5 cm. Bring to a boil over medium heat, skimming any foam that rises. Reduce to a low simmer. Do not add salt. Cook uncovered for 45–60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until every bean has dissolved completely into a thick, cohesive mass and no distinct pieces remain. The surface will be pale yellow and the purée will hold a slow, heavy bubble.

Once the beans have fully dissolved, remove from the heat and season with salt. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon — not a blender — working the purée until it tightens and becomes cohesive. Some grain should remain; the texture is coarser than a smooth soup. The purée should hold its shape when spooned.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the cicoria and blanch for 3–4 minutes until the stems are just tender. Drain thoroughly and press out excess water. The greens must not be wet when they go into the pan.

Heat a wide pan over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the crushed garlic. When the garlic is fragrant and the oil shimmers, add the blanched cicoria. Sauté at high heat, turning frequently, until all remaining moisture has evaporated and the cicoria is glossy, collapsed, and tender at the stem. Remove the garlic.

Spoon the macco onto one side of each warmed plate and the cicoria alongside it — the two elements remain separate, white-yellow purée against dark green chicory. Pour the remaining Pugliese DOP olive oil generously over both — no less than 4 tablespoons across the four portions. Serve immediately, to be mixed at the table by the diner.

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Fave secche pelate from a named Pugliese producer (Valle d'Itria or Salento); cicoria di campo foraged or sourced from a specialist grower; a single-estate Pugliese DOP olive oil from Coratina olives, cold-pressed of the current harvest.

Estate — Pugliese fave secche pelate from a reputable Italian dry-goods supplier; cultivated cicoria or Belgian endive as a substitute; a certified Pugliese DOP extra-virgin olive oil from a named cooperative.

Market — Dried peeled broad beans of any Italian or Mediterranean provenance; dandelion greens or turnip tops as a substitute for cicoria; any good-quality southern Italian extra-virgin olive oil with low acidity.

House — Dried peeled broad beans sourced from a supermarket; curly endive or escarole in place of cicoria; a reliable extra-virgin olive oil. Do not substitute fresh or tinned broad beans under any circumstance — they will not form a purée.

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. The cooking beans show no distinct pieces — the pot contains a uniform pale-yellow mass that moves slowly as a single body when stirred.

◇Touch. The finished macco holds its shape when lifted on a spoon and falls slowly; it is neither pourable nor stiff, and retains a faint grain against the tongue.

◇Sound. The cicoria in the pan is silent — no sputtering of residual water — before it is considered ready to plate.

◇Smell. The olive oil poured at service releases an immediate grassy, peppery fragrance over the warm purée — the signal that the dish has reached its intended character.

◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the beans dissolving completely before salt is added — season too early and the skins resist dissolution, leaving a lumpy, toughened purée that cannot be recovered.

V · Cross-Cuisine Parallels

Ful medames (Egyptian) — slow-cooked dried broad beans finished in olive oil; same bean and same oil significance, though the Egyptian preparation serves the beans whole rather than dissolving them to a purée. Ful akhdar bi Zeit (Lebanese) — broad beans with olive oil, lemon, and garlic; the Lebanese version uses fresh beans and is served cold, where the Pugliese uses dried beans and serves warm. Fava Santorinis (Greek, Cyclades) — yellow split-pea purée dressed with olive oil and raw onion; the concept is nearly identical, differing only in legume: split peas in the Greek, dried fava beans in the Pugliese.

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What to Pour

A dry, mineral southern Italian white — Verdeca or Fiano di Avellino — whose acidity and stone-fruit character cuts the olive oil richness without overwhelming the earthy simplicity of the macco. A light, young Primitivo rosato from Puglia is equally correct and follows the regional logic of the dish.

The whole pairing

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