(for 4 people)
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g Amio Borlotti Beans
- 250 g fresh cherry tomatoes
- 300 g very ripe tomatoes (about 4 medium tomatoes)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3 sprigs of rosemary
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
- A pinch of salt
- 2 sprigs of fresh parsley
PROCEDURE
- Soak the dried beans in water the night before preparation; they need about 10-12 hours of soaking. Then rinse them, put them in a pot with 1 liter and 250 ml of cold water (500 ml for every 100g of product), and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat with the lid on for about 1 hour. (If using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is halved)
- Drain the beans, being careful to reserve the cooking water.
- Peel the garlic cloves and wash them together with the rosemary, then chop them finely and place them in a high-sided pot along with the olive oil.
- Wash the tomatoes and cut them into small pieces.
- Sauté the garlic and rosemary quickly, then add the tomatoes. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes until you obtain a sauce
- Add the paprika, cumin, and salt
- Add the beans and 300 ml of the reserved bean cooking water.
- Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, without a lid, stirring occasionally, until the soup becomes creamy.
- Serve hot, garnishing with a little fresh parsley.
You can still feel the time in grandmothers’ kitchens; those who cooked forever, every single day, like a duty to be carried out before the need and the pleasure to be savored. It was a long, silent time, made of patient waiting for leavening, boiling, browning, drying… How much is there alongside the flavor of food? Beyond time, there was patience, effort, dedication, and even goodness, an invisible ingredient.
I’ve seen fragments of pots – poor earthenware used every day for a lifetime, black from all the smoke they had endured – that had remained buried for centuries, re-emerge like forgotten relics from the darkness of dusty pantries.