Once called the meat of the poor, legumes are rich in vegetable proteins, mineral salts such as calcium and iron, and vitamin B1. They are a highly energetic food: buckets provide over 300 kcal per 100 g of product. They are eaten fresh, as vegetables, but also dried: thus they are kept in the pantry for up to a year.
Legumes are an ingredient widely used in all cuisine, from north to south. They have a high nutritional value and provide the right amount of protein and are therefore suitable for those who prefer a vegetarian diet. They are eaten together with pasta or rice, or, as a main dish, combined with meat and fish. They are perfect for cooking hearty winter dishes. Here are our tips to prepare them
Beans with a bird
Typical Tuscan recipe, provides for the use of dry cannellini beans. After having soaked them for a whole night, cook them in plenty of water for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a sauce with a drizzle of oil, a sliver of poached garlic and some sage leaves. After a few minutes add the beans and 5 ripe tomatoes or canned pulp. Cook until the beans have become tender. Sprinkle with a handful of black pepper and a dash of extra virgin olive oil.
Soup with garlic bread
Boil the borlotti beans after soaking them overnight and when they are ready sieve the 3/4, setting aside the remaining quarter. In a saucepan, prepare a sauté with onion, carrot and celery and when they are browned add some chopped tomatoes, chopped potatoes, a courgette cut into round slices, a head of black cabbage and a few leaves of radicchio cut into strips. When the vegetables start to become tender, add the bean puree and cook for 40 minutes. Then add the whole beans and season with salt. Serve on slices of toasted Tuscan bread rubbed with garlic and season with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, a handful of black pepper and a few thyme leaves.
Chickpea and monkfish cavatelli
For this first of the Lucan tradition, prepare a sauté with carrots, celery and onion. When the vegetables are browned, add the soaked chickpeas and cook for about fifteen minutes. Add the chopped monkfish, thyme and broth to the chickpeas in which you will directly cook the cavatelli. Take care not to put too much of it because otherwise you will have a too liquid consistency. When cooked, sprinkle with black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Cannellini Sauté with Porcini Mushrooms
This dish is a perfect side dish for this season. To prepare it, boil a bay leaf, celery, carrot and some sage and rosemary leaves, cannellini beans previously previously soaked in a slice of garlic, in a clove of garlic. Meanwhile, clean the porcini mushrooms, cut the stalks into thin slices and sauté them with garlic, oil and parsley. After a few minutes, add the sautéed mushrooms, the chopped chapels, a ladle of broth and cook for ten minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped chervil and black pepper.
Broad bean gnocchi with ricotta and vegetables
To make this dish you have to prepare gnocchi with mashed beans soaked and boiled instead of with potatoes. To this add the ricotta, two tablespoons of flour, an egg, salt, pepper and form a mixture which you will then divide into gnocchi. Cook them in abundant salted water and drain them as soon as they come to the surface. Separately, in a saucepan with a drizzle of oil, fry a leek, a zucchini and ribs, all reduced to round slices. Add a ladle of broth, season with salt and pepper and sauté the gnocchi for a few minutes. Serve hot.
Chickpea fritters
An excellent recipe for a vegetarian menu: prepare the fritters by boiling the already soaked chickpeas and passing them through a vegetable mill to form a batter. Add two eggs, half a glass of milk, a tablespoon of whole wheat flour and one of buckwheat flour, some chopped garlic with some rosemary needles, a pinch of salt and mix everything together. In a pan for the crepes, melt a knob of butter and then pour a ladle of batter and let it thicken. Turn the pancake after two minutes. Finish the dough by preparing the pancakes in this way. Serve hot on a bed of spinach in a salad.
Bean Cakes with Goat Cheese
A great quick and easy to prepare appetizer. Mash the boiled beans from the eye in a vegetable mill to form a puree with which you will form lightly flattened meatballs. Place them on the plates, garnish with a slice of goat's cheese and sprinkle everything with an emulsion made by blending 80 g of extra virgin olive oil, a handful of parsley, salt and a tablespoon of vinegar. Finish with freshly ground pepper and serve.
Lentil soup with fresh pasta
The lentils used for this dish are those of Castelluccio, and compared to other legumes, they do not need to be soaked. They can then be prepared even at the last minute. Fry the lentils in a little oil with chopped garlic and shallots, carrot and pancetta reduced to a diced shape. When they are browned, add a liter and a half of broth, preferably chicken, salt, pepper and cook for about 40 minutes. At this point add the fresh pasta, of the maltagliati type, and leave to cook after boiling for two minutes then turn off. Complete with a drizzle of raw oil and freshly ground pepper.
Peanut cups with borlotti bean mousse
Prepare for this delicious sweet small waffles by mixing sugar, butter, honey, cream, two tablespoons of flour and 80 g of peeled and chopped peanuts. Spread a spoonful of the dough on a plate lined with baking paper and cook at 200 ° until the edges of the disc darken. At this point remove it from the oven and shape it on an upside down glass. Prepare the mousse with the boiled and passed through borers to which you will add the grated rind of a lemon, 200 g of fresh cream, two tablespoons of icing sugar and a dash of Maraschino liqueur. Spread the foam into the peanut cups and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve with the addition of a drizzle of melted chocolate.
Pea plumcake with mascarpone sauce
Another dessert that will amaze you with the combination of ingredients. Prepare the plum cakes by frying 150 g of icing sugar with the same amount of butter and a pinch of salt. Then add 60 g of boiled peas, 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks, 50 g of corn flour and 150 g of white flour and a sachet of vanillin. Grease and flour the plum cake molds and distribute the prepared mixture. Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the sauce by moistening 70 g of icing sugar with a tablespoon of water, cook it until it reaches 110 ° and then pour it over 2 egg yolks and froth them together. Add to the mixture 150 g of mascarpone and a dash of rum. Serve the plum cakes with the mascarpone sauce and a drizzle of melted chocolate.
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