Serves 4 to 6.
Ingredients
1 packet Colacchio Mamma Isa biricci pasta
1½Kg young small broad beans
2 red capsicums
2 cloves of garlic, quartered
olive oil
chilli oil
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
parmesan cheese flakes
Colacchio Mamma Isa pasta is available from some small independent grocers and deli’s, including Aumanns At Warrandyte.
Method
Remove the stem from the capsicums and cut in half lengthways along the rib of the fruit. Remove then seeds and membrane, then cut again along the remaining rib lines to give you three or four smooth lengths of capsicum.
Using a wide shallow pan with a lid, pour in a generous amount of virgin olive oil to cover the pan. Gently warm the oil, then place the pieces of capsicum in the pan in one layer with the skin sides down. Cover with a lid. Gently fry for about 20 minutes until the skin starts to brown then add slices of garlic and turn over all the pieces of capsicum and gently fry with the lid on for about five minutes until the capsicum is soft. Keeping the lid on steams the capsicum, thereby softening the fruit and creating a sweet flavoursome sauce. When soft, remove the capsicum from the pan and place on a plate to cool, then peel away the skins and slice the soft flesh into long strips. Lightly season with salt.
Cook the pasta according to directions on the packet. Drain and return to the pot, cover liberally with olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and toss through.
Remove the broad beans from their pods. Place the beans in a pan of boiling water, simmer for 15 minutes, drain and rinse under cold water.
Re-heat the pan with the capsicum garlic oil sauce and add the cooked beans. Stir until heated through, then add the capsicum strips, vinegar and cooked pasta. Season with salt and pepper.
Gently toss all the ingredients so that the pasta is liberally coated with the flavoured oil and the beans are evenly distributed with the pasta. Add some extra drizzle of olive oil and a light drizzle of chilli oil. Serve topped with parmesan cheese flakes.
I like to marry ingredients that are in season at the same time. In this dish, the broad beans are available late spring or early summer in Melbourne, either from our own gardens or markets (it’s very uncommon to see fresh broad beans at the supermarket). But capsicums arrive in Melbourne at the peak of summer. So make sure you keep bags of lightly boiled young broad beans in the freezer to use a few months later when capsicums are also at the peak of season.
Author
Celesta Van der Paal
Eltham