Recipe
Favata sarda
The great winter stew of dried fava beans, pork rinds, sausage and black cabbage: a hearty one-pot dish, long-cooked, that warms the cold days of the Campidano.
Ingredients
Serves: 6
- Dried peeled fava beans 500 g
- Pork rinds 300 g
- Cured Sardinian sausage 300 g
- Lardo (cured back fat) 100 g
- Black cabbage (cavolo nero) 400 g
- Wild fennel un mazzetto
- Onion 1
- Sun-dried tomatoes 4
- Stale bread to serve q.b.
- Extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper q.b.
Method
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The night before, soak the fava beans in plenty of cold water.
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Next day, blanch the rinds in boiling water 5 minutes, scrape with a knife to clean and cut into strips.
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In a large terracotta or cast-iron pot, sweat chopped onion in diced lardo. Add the rinds and brown 5 minutes.
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Drain the beans and add them in. Cover with cold water two fingers above the beans, add torn sun-dried tomatoes, a tuft of wild fennel and pepper.
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Slowly bring to a boil and simmer covered on low heat 2 hours, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks.
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Add the torn black cabbage and the sausage cut into thick rounds. Continue 45 minutes: the beans should break down partially to form a cream, the sausage should release its savoury fat.
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Check salt (careful: rinds and sausage are already salted). The dish is ready when it's creamy but not dry.
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Serve in deep bowls over slices of toasted stale bread. A drizzle of raw olive oil at the last moment.