Maccu

Dried split broad beans cooked until they collapse into a purée of their own accord.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 400 g dried split broad beans, skinless
• 1 onion, chopped
• a large handful of wild fennel, or fennel fronds
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• black pepper
• 200 g short pasta, if serving it as a soup

Method

1. Rinse the split beans. Skinless split beans need no soaking at all, and whole ones with their skins on will not make this dish however long you cook them.
2. Put them in a pan with cold water to cover by 4 cm, the onion and the fennel.
3. Simmer 60 to 90 minutes, STIRRING WITH A WOODEN SPOON AGAINST THE SIDE of the pan as they soften.
4. NOTHING IS BLENDED. The beans break down entirely on their own and the stirring is what makes it smooth — a blender gives a uniform paste and loses the slight graininess the dish is supposed to have.
5. Salt only once they have collapsed, and beat in the oil.
6. Serve it thick in bowls with pepper and more oil, or thin it with water and cook short pasta in it.
7. Cold, it sets firm enough to slice and fry, which is what happens to the leftovers.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes