4-5 servings
- 1 cup dry broad beans
- 1 big potato, peeled and rougly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, one peeled and finely chopped
- Curly salad or whatever green salad you have
- Hot pepper
- Ground pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
I remember the mothers of my friends, not for the character or the physical appearance, but for the food they serve for dinner. Andrea’s mother, who comes from Bari, gave us broad beans and chicory purée and some typical pizzas imported from Bari. I ate the chicory purée for the first time at Andrea’s house and our habitual attendances (with the purée, not with Andrea), were always few, but, anyway, inexorable: at least once a year I prepare chicory purée. The problem is that, being the only one fond of this Apulian dainty, I must eat it for about 3-4 consecutive days… Here you find the recipe in the way I do it, which probably won’t be like the original (Apulian friends forgive me!).
Leave the broad beans to soak for half a day. When ready, pour them in a pressure cooker with three time their volume of water. Add the roughly chopped potato (which will serve to dampen the bitterish taste of the broad beans) and the finely chopped garlic. Salt. Let them cook for about 25 minutes from the beginning of the whistle.
Meantime, sauté the curly salad (or whatever green salad you have: my garden is full of surly sald so I use without problems!) with a garlic clove, a pinch of hot pepper and some oil. At this time the purée should be ready. Take the lid off the pressure cooker and, if the mixture shouldn’t be homogeneous, forcefully stir with a wooden spoon.
Serve the brad beans purée with the sautéed green salad, a little bit of the better extra-virgin oil you have and some ground pepper. If you also have a couple of grilled bread slices, it will be perfect!
This purée is good also after some day in the fridge. Anyway, it will tend to become as solid as a brick in few time after cooking. So, heat it with some water.
