Cucina Povera
Ingredients
- chickpeas,
- pork belly without its skin,
- vinegar,
- salt,
- Parmesan cheese,
- onion,
- garlic,
- carrots,
- celery.
Preparation
At the Quinto/Quarto in St John Street we were used to serve often this amazing appetizer; made purely out of the concept of “cucina povera” i.e. the food of our grand mothers & fathers in Italy.
“Primordial Broth”:
a) Soak chickpeas over night (also in the fridge), but if longer is better, minding always to change the water.
b) I like to use pork belly without its skin, as I doubt I can reach the same perfection of what I ate at Tom Aikens in Somerset House, therefore I go for other dishes where I don’t need the skin (as “Borlotti beans Brisket&Pork Belly Stew”). I advise you to cook that skin in boiling water with salt&a touch of white vinegar for about 2 hrs. And cooling it down.
c) Keep ALWAYS the crust of Parmesan cheese in your fridge (also if it is for months).
Ok, we can go now! Stir-fry some onion&garlic (i.e. shallots if you have it) together with the pork skin (called Crackling in English and Cotica in Italian language) julienne cut, the chickpeas, and the Parmesan crusts cut into small cubes.
Slowly cook for several hrs, gently adding vegetable stock that you have prepared with the leftovers of carrots, onions and celery that you might have used for other preps.
I don’t think I need to clarify this broth, but you could do it if you want, maybe with potato’s amid obtained from the extract juicer.
Serve it for sure with few drops of “Prima Spremitura” of Taggia Olives Oil and some freshly chopped parsley.
& Buon Appetito!!!!!!!