Maccu di Fave, Sicilian Fava and Fennel Soup
Maccu is one of the oldest dishes in Sicily, a peasant pottage of dried fava beans that predates the tomato on the island by a couple of thousand years. Skinned and split, the favas melt down over an hour into a thick golden puree with no thickener but themselves. Wild fennel is the classic partner, its anise scent cutting the density of the beans; a fresh fennel bulb and a little crushed fennel seed stand in and do the same work. There is no salt and no oil: lemon and black pepper brighten the pot at the end, and the beans alone carry the body and the protein. What you do not finish sets overnight into a sliceable cake, which is a second meal, dry-toasted.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Fava beans, dried, skinned and split
- 1 whole Fennel bulb, diced
- 1 whole Yellow onions, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, sliced
- 1/2 tsp Fennel seed, crushed
- 1/4 cup Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Sweat the onion, fennel bulb, and garlic in a pot with 0.25 cup (60 ml) water over medium heat until soft, about 8 minutes. Fresh fennel doubles the anise note that wild fennel gives the dish in Sicily, where the herb grows on every roadside.
- Add the split favas, crushed fennel seed, and 4 cups (950 ml) water. Bring to a boil, skim off the gray foam, then simmer partly covered until the beans have completely fallen apart, about 60 minutes. Skinned split favas need no soaking and are meant to collapse; that dissolving is the whole texture of maccu.
- Stir the pot hard toward the end, or give it a few pulses with a spoon against the side, until it turns into a thick, coarse puree. Add hot water a little at a time if it stiffens past the texture you want, since it keeps thickening off the heat.
- Off the heat, stir in the black pepper, lemon juice, and most of the parsley. In Sicily this would be finished with a thread of olive oil; the lemon does that brightening job instead, lifting the dense beans without any salt.
- Serve hot, thick enough to hold a spoon upright, with the last of the parsley on top. Cooled and set overnight it firms into a cake that Sicilians slice and pan-toast dry the next day.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 210 calories, 14 g protein, 12 g fiber, 30 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
