73 days, bush, Italian heirloom, colorful rose and cream pods, delicious creamy white beans with rosy speckles, sometimes referred to as cranberry beans
HOW TO PREPARE: In Italy standard green snap beans are usually boiled in a large pot or steamed until just tender. For salads they are left to cool; but most often they are cooked again, usually warmed in a sauté pan with olive oil (occasionally butter). Sometimes Parmesan cheese, anchovies, or garlic is added. Snap beans are served with pasta, sometimes combined with new potatoes or tomatoes. My favorite is snap beans with a pesto sauce served over penne pasta. The romano beans, particularly the yellow ones, must be watched carefully during cooking, as they turn to mush very quickly.
Fresh shelling beans like the borlotto types are usually boiled until just tender, then served with olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic or used cold in a bean salad. They also are combined with leafy cutting types of chicory or broccoli raab and served in a sauce over pasta.
Fava beans in Italy are eaten at different stages. Young pods under 4 inches (10 cm) are boiled whole in salted water and seasoned with olive oil and garlic. When pods start to fill out, the small beans inside are sometimes served raw with salt or pecorino cheese at the end of a meal. Fava beans are most often cooked like lima beans, served with olive oil or butter and Parmesan cheese or cooked with pancetta. Simmer the young ones and add them to chopped tomatoes for a pasta sauce; use the older beans peeled or dried in hearty soups or with meats.
Dried beans are most popular in Italy, both the cannellini and the borlotto. Particularly in Tuscany and Florence there are numerous local dishes. White beans baked with olive oil, garlic, and sage is a favorite, as is the “twice boiled” soup ribollita. In ribollita the beans are simmered with aromatic vegetables until the soup is fairly thick; half the beans are then pureed and added back to the soup, which is eaten the next day. The soup is warmed, seasoned, and served over toasted bread. Tuscan black kale (lacinato) is the traditional vegetable added to this soup. Fresh or dried borlotto beans are integral to a mussel soup flavored with basil. Dried beans are important in the soup pasta e fagioli; they are also served with tuna over pasta or combined with rice and vegetables.
BORAGE
(borragine) Borago officinalis
This potherb is native to Europe and Africa and has a slight cucumber flavor. It’s one of many spring greens gathered from the fields and hillsides of Italy to be used for salads and as a cooked green.
HOW TO GROW: Borage is an easily grown summer annual that sometimes acts like a biennial. Borage plants grow to about 2 feet (0.6 m) and have hairy gray leaves and deep blue, ½-inch (13 mm) star-shaped flowers. Plants are easily started from seeds. Sow the seeds in spring after all threat of frost is over, in average soil and full sun. You can harvest young leaves once the plants are established, and flowers anytime they appear. Borage often reseeds itself and winters over in mild climates.
HOW TO PREPARE: In Italy very young leaves are added to salads and soups. The 1-inch (2.5 cm) borage flowers can be used in salads or to garnish drinks. The more mature leaves are hairy and are best consumed cooked, since cooking removes the hairy texture. Combine the leaves with other greens, both domestic and wild, in calzone and ravioli, in risotto, and on pizzas, or make them into nests that can be filled with eggs or cheese.
Borage
CAUTION Pregnant and lactating women should avoid borage flowers, as eating more than eight to ten flowers can cause milk to flow!
BROCCOLI, HEADING
(cavoli broccoli) Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
BROCCOLI, SPROUTING
(cavoli broccoli) B. oleracea var. italica
BROCCOLI RAAB
(cime di rapa, broccoletto di rapa, sparachetti)
B. rapa (B. campestris)
CAULIFLOWER
(cavolfiore) B. oleracea var. botrytis
In addition to the familiar green heading broccolis, Italians grow sprouting broccolis that produce numerous small heads over a long season. Purple and white varieties of both the heading and sprouting broccolis, and the chartreuse, sculptured romanesco are also popular. While Americans categorize romanesco as broccoli, Italians consider it cauliflower. There are two more Italian “broccolis” to discuss—broccoli raab and broccolo spigariello. Broccoli raab is actually the flower shoot of a type of turnip and has slightly bitter green leaves. Broccolo spigariello is most probably a primitive cabbage and has dark green leaves with a grayish cast and grows as a very open broccoli plant with narrow heads. A broccoli relative, cauliflower, is very popular in Italy, and both white and purple types are grown.
HOW TO GROW: Standard broccoli is an annual, while cauliflower is actually a biennial. Both prefer cool weather and bolt (go to flower) in extremely hot weather. They are planted in very early spring for summer bearing, or in summer or fall for winter bearing. In mild climates overwintering varieties can be planted. Both need full sun, with light shade in hot climates. Start broccoli seeds indoors six weeks before your last average frost date. Plant cauliflower a little earlier, as it grows more slowly. Plant seeds ½ inch (13 mm) deep. Or buy transplants and place them in rich soil about two weeks before the last average frost date. Plants should be spaced 1½ feet (0.46 m) apart, or 2½ feet (0.76 m) for the romanesco varieties. Broccoli and cauliflower are heavy feeders and need a consistent supply of water and nutrients, especially nitrogen. Work compost and blood meal or a balanced organic fertilizer into the soil before planting and again three or four weeks after planting. Mulching helps retain the necessary moisture.
‘Romanesco’ broccoli; Broccoli raab; Broccoli Calabrese; Purple sprouting broccoli
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