Cicoria e fagioli (Chicory and Beans)

Frank5 February 2016Naples and Campania, one dish meals/piatti unici, pastas, soups and risottos/primi piatti, sides/contorno, Soups57 Comments

Chicory and Beans is one of those lean dishes that Angelina practically lived on weekdays. Like many good southern Italians, she was what we might call today a ‘flexitarian‘—living mostly on vegetables, saving meat for Sundays and other special occasions. Her lunch would often consist of chicory or escarole or some other vegetable, sautéed in typical aglio e olio style, perhaps over a slice of grilled bread. Way before Michael Pollan came along, Angelina ate real food and mostly plants, although, to be honest, she may have comprised on the “not too much” part of his famous formula for eating.

In this variation on a common theme, boiled beans add enough heft to the sautéed chicory make the dish a fairly substantial eating. When I don’t have the time or foresight to soak and boil dried beans—which is often—I add canned beans, well rinsed and drained. It makes the dish really quick and easy.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

2 large or 3 medium heads of chicory
1 small can (425g/15 oz) of cannellini or borlotti beans, well rinsed and drained, or equivalent boiled beans
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 peperoncino or a pinch of dried pepper flakes (optional)
Olive oil
Salt

Directions

Most chicory these days is sold pre-washed, but if you have any doubts, soak it in several changes of water to remove any grit. Drain well, reserving the light-colored heart if you like for salad (see Notes) and cut off the roots.

Boil the chicory in salted water until fully tender, about 5-10 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking water. You can let the chicory cool if you have the time, or rinse it under cold water if you don’t. Squeeze the chicory dry and chop it roughly.

In a large braised or sauté pan, lightly brown the garlic in abundant olive oil, adding the peperoncino or red pepper flakes if using, for a few moments at the end. Remove both garlic and peperoncino. (The pepper flakes can stay in the pan, but proceed to the next step right away to avoid them burning and becoming bitter.)

Add the chopped chicory to the seasoned oil and let it simmer for about 5 minutes so it has a chance to absorb the flavorings. Then add the canned or boiled beans, along with a ladleful (or more) of the cooking water. Mix well but gingerly to avoid breaking up the beans. Let the mixture simmer for another few minutes.

Taste and adjust for seasoning, and serve hot or warm. A drizzle of best quality olive oil doesn’t hurt.

Notes on Chicory and Beans

Chicory and Beans is a really flexible dish. While the basic recipe makes a fine contorno or side dish, the beans make it substantial enough to serve as a vegan main course. And if you serve Chicory and Beans over toasted bread, it works as a light piatto unico, or one-dish meal, with only a piece of fruit needed afterwards to round things out. Add enough cooking liquid to your Chicory and Beans, and it becomes a thick soup serve as a first course, to which you could make even more substantial by adding rice or pasta as well. Come to think of it, you could even put small amounts on crostini as an antipasto…

While cannellini or borlotti (aka cranberry) would be the most typical choices for Chicory and Beans, you can really use just about any kind of bean you like for this dish. And why not experiment with pintos or even red beans or black-eyed peas if that’s what you have on hand? And, by the way, you can always add more beans than called for here—as much as double, in fact—if you want a more substantial dish. Personally, I don’t even measure, just “eyeballing” it until I have the balance of greens and beans that appeals to me. And while purists may scoff, I actually find canned beans are quite an acceptable substitute for dried beans. Just be sure to rinse them well, to remove the funny taste of their canning liquid. In my opinion, good quality convenience foods have their place in even the best home cooking.

And, by the way, as another way to bulk up your greens, you can add potatoes, cubed or sliced into wedges, instead of the beans.

Rather than adding them to the pot along with the tougher dark green outer leaves, I like to reserve the tender hearts of chicory for use as a salad. As I’ve written about before, their slightly bitter flavor goes especially well with the anchovy dressing that Romans use for puntarelle.

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