Farinata di cavolo nero (Tuscan Kale and Polenta Soup)

Frank4 November 2016pastas, soups and risottos/primi piatti, polenta, Soups, Toscana64 Comments

When I think of Tuscan cuisine, first and foremost, even before the classic bistecca alla fiorentina as wonderful as that is, I think of its hearty vegetable soups. The best known of these soups is probably the ribollita, of course. But the most memorable Tuscan soup I’ve ever had was in a small trattoria in Florence. It was so many years ago that I’ve forgotten the name of the place, but I do remember the soup. It was called simply farinata on the menu, though the soup often goes by the longer name farinata di cavolo nero, perhaps to distinguish it from the Ligurian chickpea flatbread also called farinata. And like many classic Italian dishes, it goes by other names, too, such as infarinata, incavolata and intruglia.

Whatever you want to call it, the soup I had all those years ago was a kind of minestrone. It was so thick, it was more like a porridge than a soup. In this, it was a bit like ribollita in fact, but the thickener was polenta (hence the ‘farina‘) rather than bread. Like many classic dishes, there exist multiple versions of farinata di cavolo nero. Some are austerely simple, little more than kale and polenta simmered together. And although I love simplicity, as regular readers know, in this case I’m sticking with that fairly elaborate version I tried in Florence, all those years ago. I’ve been trying to replicate it at home for a long time, and the following recipe, while it didn’t quite capture the magic of that first experience for me, came pretty close.

Ingredients

For the beans:

500g dried beans, soaked overnight
12 cups of water
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly crushed
A sprig of fresh sage
A hunk of pancetta or prosciutto
Salt and pepper

For the soup:

A red onion, chopped
A carrot, chopped
A celery stalk, chopped
A small piece of lardo or pancetta, finely minced (optional)
500g (1 lb) of cavolo nero (lacinato or dinosaur kale), stems removed and cut into strips
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

To thicken the soup:

250g (1/2 lb) polenta (cornmeal), or more if you want a thicker dish

For the topping:

Olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Soak the beans overnight. The next day, rinse the beans well, then put them in a pot with at least 3 liters/12 cups of water. Add the garlic, sage, salt, and peppercorns, as well as the pancetta or prosciutto if using. Bring the beans to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer them until tender, about 45-60 minutes, depending on the beans.

Meanwhile, make your soffritto: heat the olive oil in a casserole, preferably terracotta or enameled cast iron. If using the lardo, mince it finely and sauté it gently in the olive oil until it has rendered most of its fat and slightly browned. Add the onion, carrot and celery, and let those sauté gently, too, until they are tender and the onion has turned translucent.

Add the kale, mixing it well with the soffritto so the kale is covered with the seasoned oil and aromatic vegetables, then let it cook down until the kale is wilted and well reduced.

When the beans are cooked, add them along with their cooking liquid to the casserole, topping up with water (or broth) if the vegetables are not covered. Simmer over a low flame until the kale is perfectly tender, about 30-45 minutes. Stir from time to time, and add water if needed to keep things loose. Along the way, you can crush some of the beans against the side of the casserole with a wooden spoon to thicken the soup.

When the kale is tender, add the polenta to the casserole in a thin stream, stirring all the time so it mixes will into the soup without lumping together. Continue simmering until the polenta is fully cooked, usually another 20 or 30 minutes. Add more liquid if the farinata starts to dry out. It should have the consistency of porridge.

Serve while still hot, with a good filo d’olio (drizzle of olive oil) and freshly ground black pepper.

Notes on Farinata di cavolo nero

The dish is pretty straightforward. The only really tricky part might be when it comes to adding the cornmeal. If you add it too fast, or without stirring vigorously the cornmeal may form clumps. Unpleasant, if not fatal. Otherwise, you’ll need to be armed with patience. Each step of the dish, starting with the soaking of the beans, will take its good time. And do avoid the temptation to cut corners. While I usually appreciate the convenience of canned beans, for instance, this is one dish where you’ll want to use the dried kind, since the bean cooking liquid is an integral part of the dish.

Variations

At its simplest, farinata di cavolo nero is essentially boiled kale mixed with polenta. Giuliano Bugialli offers a slightly more elaborate version: you simmer cannellini beans until tender along with sage, garlic and pancetta. You then purée half the beans and put them back into the pot, reserving the other half for later. You add the kale and some tomato paste to the pot with the puréed beans and simmer until the kale is tender. Then the polenta goes in and simmers until it, too, is tender. You add the reserved beans back into the pot a few minutes before serving.

The Accademia Italiana della Cucina proposes a version, which they say is typical of Pontremoli, where you simmer the kale along with potatoes, to which you then add the polenta. You sauté a soffritto of mortadella, parsley and garlic in lard separately and add it to the pot a few minutes before serving. In some versions, you add broth to thin out the farinata, which you serve as a proper soup with slices of grilled bread. Other herbs like rosemary, thyme or basil and even peperoncino or fennel seeds feature in some recipes. Many recipes—and I suspect this is original—call for cotenna, or pork rind, rather than pancetta.

You can veganize your farinata di cavolo nero very simply. Just omit the pork products when you simmer the beans and make the soffritto. And I’d up the amount of aromatic vegetable in the soffritto for added flavor.

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