Broad bean, artichoke and pea stew

Vignarola

By: Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi
From: Rome
Serves: 8-10
Photographer: Helen Cathcart

Call in the troops or cheat! You have two options here to create this springtime dish. It takes a lot of love and patience to make it from fresh ingredients, so do split the work between friends. We enlisted the help of our passing managing director, Roberto, at work one day; an hour later he was still standing there in the kitchen shelling peas. It did give us a chance to talk though, so perhaps we will start bringing vegetables to our meetings in future! Alternatively, use some frozen or canned vegetables to save time. Traditionally it is made with guanciale (a cured meat made from pork cheeks) or pancetta, which is unsmoked, but we also rather like the smoky background flavour of smoked bacon. Some people also shred a lettuce into the dish in the last five minutes of the cooking time and others leave the chilli out. Because this is a stew, the vegetables will lose their vibrant green colour, but it still tastes of spring. Eat it as a starter or main course with crusty bread.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1kg	peas in the pod
or 300g	podded fresh or frozen beans
1kg	broad beans in the pod
or 300g	podded fresh or frozen beans
1kg	small artichokes
or 400g	frozen or tinned in brine
50g	smoked or unsmoked streaky bacon, pancetta or guanciale, (optional)
1	white medium onion, finely chopped
1	fat garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed
1	small dried red chilli, (optional)
	salt
	freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons	extra-virgin olive oil
100ml	white wine
1 litre	hot water
handful	flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
handful	mint, finely chopped
	best-quality extra-virgin olive oil, to serve

Method

If you are using fresh peas and broad beans still in their pods, remove them from their pods into separate bowls. If you are using whole fresh artichokes, follow the instructions on how to clean and prepare them from the Jewish-Style Deep-Fried Artichokes recipe, then cut them into quarters and, if they have them, remove the furry chokes in the centre with a spoon.
Sweat the bacon (if using), onion, garlic, chilli and seasoning with the 5 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat for around 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Pour in the wine and allow to reduce for a few minutes. Add the hot water and the peas. Cook the peas for around 30 minutes so that they lose their colour but gain sweetness.
While the peas are cooking, in a separate pan, boil the broad beans for 3–5 minutes until just tender, then drain and put them into a bowl of cold water to cool. If you are using fresh broad beans, remove and discard the tough outer skin of each bean so that you are left with only the bright green centre bean. If you have used the small, young frozen ones that are tender, you shouldn’t need to shell them. Cook the fresh or frozen artichokes in a saucepan of boiling salted water for about 10–15 minutes until just tender. Remove and drain but save the cooking liquor if they were fresh. If you are using tinned artichokes, rinse them in cold water to remove the brine and then heat them in a saucepan of boiling water for 3–4 minutes before adding to the peas.
Add the cooked broad beans and artichokes to the pan with the cooked peas, along with 300 ml of artichoke water or hot water. Stir and cook everything together over a low heat for 30 minutes. Adjust the seasoning as necessary and serve scattered with the parsley, mint and a swirl of your best extra-virgin olive oil.

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Broad bean, artichoke and pea stew

Vignarola

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