I have fond memories of May Days in Rome. If the weather cooperates, as it usually does, it’s a time for the year’s first picnic fuori porta, literally ‘outside the gate’ meaning outside town. Romans will pick up and find any green spot to set out their picnic lunch. Even city parks if they can’t manage to get out of the town.
When we were living in the center of town, close to the Campo de’ fiori, we’d often go up the Gianicolo, a high hill just across the river with a lovely view of the city, for our May Day picnics. When we moved to a country setting on the outskirts, we could just sit outside on the terrace. And we would often come across strangers picnicking just down the hill from our house!
The contents of our picnic basket would vary, but there was one item that never failed to make an appearance: fave e pecorino, or raw fava beans and pecorino. Not really a proper dish at all, you just set out the fava beans, still in their pods, and a hunk of pecorino cheese. Each picnicker opens the pods for themselves and eats the raw fava beans they find inside with a bit of pecorino, washed down with a well-chilled dry white wine, preferably a crisp Frascati from the nearby Alban Hills. Odd as it may sound at first, once you try it, you realize it’s a combination that was just meant to be.
Fave e pecorino as a dressing for pasta
This week’s featured dish, pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino, uses this classic duo as a dressing for pasta, supported by a flavor base of guanciale, the quintessentially Roman cured pork jowl that turns up in just about every iconic Roman pasta (other than cacio e pepe).
There are are a few different ways to prepare pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino. The following recipe is the one I think is probably the crowd pleaser, as it produces a proper sauce. And since in this recipe the fava beans are puréed, you can dispense with the rather tedious task of peeling the fava beans. If you’re interested, however, you can find those other methods in the Notes below.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
- 500g (1 lb) pasta of your choice (see Notes)
- 250 g (1/2 lb) guanciale, cut into cubes or strips
- 500 g (1 lb) de-podded fava beans
- 125g (4-1/2 oz) freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Directions
In a large braiser or sauté pan, sauté the guanciale very gently in a small amount of olive oil until it has lightly browned and rendered most (but not all) of its fat. Remove and set aside until needed. Do not discard the rendered fat.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Throw in the fava beans and parboil them for about 3-5 minutes, depending on their size. Remove them with a slotted spoon and plunge them immediately into a bowl of ice water, then drain. Do not discard the cooking water.
Setting aside a few fava beans for garnish, place the rest in a blender along with the rendered guanciale fat, a small ladleful of your cooking water (enough to make the purée thick but pourable) and a pinch of salt.
Blend until perfectly smooth, then pour the resulting purée into the pan where you sautéed the guanciale. Keep warm over the barest flame while you cook the pasta.
Bring the water you cooked the fava beans in back to a boil and throw in your pasta. Cook until slightly under al dente.
Transfer the pasta with a skimmer to the pan with the fava bean purée. Turn on the flame and simmer the pasta, along with another ladleful of pasta water, in the purée for a minute or two, until the pasta is fully cooked and the purée coats the pasta nicely.
Off heat, add the grated cheese and toss well, adding a bit more of the cooking water if needed. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Serve right away, topped with the guanciale and reserved fava beans.
Notes on pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino
There aren’t too many ways to wrong in this easy pasta. I’d just take care salt the cooking water and purée lightly, as both the guanciale fat and especially the pecorino are quite salty. Better to undersalt at first, then adjust if you need to right before serving.
Choosing your pasta
You will find recipes for pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino with both long and short pasta shapes. To my mind, a short pasta like rigatoni or mezze maniche are ideal for catching this sauce. But you will find recipes with fettuccine, tonnarelli (the Roman version of spaghetti alla chitarra) or just plain old spaghetti. Truth be told, you can use just about any shape you fancy.
Choosing and prepping your fava beans
Fresh fava beans can be hard to find where I live. There are a couple of supermarkets near me that carry it. You’ll more likely to find them at health/organic oriented markets as well as Latino ones. They are also available from my old standby Alma Gourmet. If you can’t find fresh ones, Melissa’s Produce sells pre-shelled and steamed fava beans, in which case you need not parboil them, of course. You could also use frozen fava beans. And in a pinch, edamame or baby liman beans could serve as substitutes.
To peel or not to peel?
Fresh fava beans come in large pods. Of course, you need to remove them from the pods. The beans also have a skin that can be rather tough, especially in more mature, larger beans. Usually in a bunch of favas you’ll find a whole range of sizes, from very small (almost the size of a pea) to quite large. Take a look at the photo to the left. One tell tale sign that a fava needs peeling is that dark stripe down its side.
To peel fava beans easily, blanch them quickly in boiling water, then plunge them in cold water. Peel away an opening in the skin. You should then be able to pop the bean out easily.
As mentioned at the top, however, since most of the favas are puréed, you don’t need to peel them, so long as you have a powerful enough blender (such as a Vitamix) that can pulverize the skins. If not, you could pass the purée through a fine sieve to catch any stray bits of skin. Use your judgment for the favas you use for garnish.
Guanciale
Guanciale is a must to give your pasta that true Roman taste. With the recent popularity of Roman pastas, it’s becoming easier to find in better supermarkets, Italian delis and, of course, online. That said, you could use pancetta if that’s all you’re able to source.
If you are using guanciale, go easy on the olive oil. I find it does help get things going but, since guanciale is quite fatty, you only need a few drops, really. Many Roman recipes have you render the guanciale in a dry pan, but for me that often results in a smokey kitchen. Also make sure to go low and slow with the guanciale. Because of its high fat content, guanciale has a tendency to smoke and burn if you use too high a flame.
Finally, you want to only lightly brown your guanciale. Enough to render most of the fat but leaving the inside of your cubes or strips still fairly soft.
Variations
Variations on the recipe for pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino include adding the grated cheese to the blender when you make the fava purée. This gives the purée a creamier texture. But if you go this route, you should avoid cooking the purée too much at the end. as the pecorino turns unpleasantly sharp when subjected to high heat.
You can also add some fresh herbs if you like. Mint—especially the prized mentuccia aka nepitella so prized by Romans—is especially nice, I think. Add it to blender or, for a more assertive flavor, toss it in at the end with the pecorino.
Other methods for making pasta guanciale fave e pecorino
As mentioned at the top, there are various to ways to make this dish that don’t involve puréeing the fava beans.
One method is to braise the fava beans directly in the pan with the guanciale along with, if you like, some chopped shallot or onion. Sometimes you a dizzle in some white wine, sometimes just water to braise your beans. For this method, since the fava beans remain whole, you should use very young ones or, if they’re large, parboil and peel them first. The pasta is then tossed with the braised beans and lots of pecorino.
There’s yet a third option: Braise half your fava beans, then use the other half to make your purée. This is the most elaborate method but you get the best of both worlds, so the speak.
Yet another method has you use the fava beans raw, or nearly so. You quickly blanch the fava beans, then peel them and use them as a topping for pasta with tossed with sautéed guanciale and pecorino.
Making pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino ahead
Like most pasta dishes, this dish is best made at the last minute. But you can certainly make it partially ahead, up to the point where you’ve browned the guanciale and prepared the fava purée, leaving only the cooking of the pasta to the last minute.
Pasta con guanciale fave e pecorino
Ingredients
- 500 g pasta of your choice
- 250 g guanciale cut into cubes or strips
- 500 g fava beans de-podded
- 125 g pecorino romano cheese freshly grated
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
- In a large braiser or sauté pan, sauté the guanciale very gently in a small amount of olive oil until it has lightly browned and rendered most (but not all) of its fat. Remove and set aside until needed. Do not discard the rendered fat.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Throw in the fava beans and parboil them for about 3-5 minutes, depending on their size. Remove them with a slotted spoon and plunge them immediately into a bowl of ice water, then drain. Do not discard the cooking water.
- Setting aside a few fava beans for garnish, place the rest in a blender along with the rendered guanciale fat, a small ladleful of your cooking water (enough to make the purée thick but pourable) and a pinch of salt.
- Blend until perfectly smooth, then pour the resulting purée into the pan where you sautéed the guanciale. Keep warm over the barest flame while you cook the pasta.
- Bring the water you cooked the fava beans in back to a boil and throw in your pasta. Cook until slightly under al dente.
- Transfer the pasta with a skimmer to the pan with the fava bean purée. Turn on the flame and simmer the pasta, along with another ladleful of pasta water, in the purée for a minute or two, until the pasta is fully cooked and the purée coats the pasta nicely.
- Off heat, add the grated cheese and toss well, adding a bit more of the cooking water if needed. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
- Serve right away, topped with the guanciale and reserved fava beans.
Discover more from Memorie di Angelina
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
