For the rest of Italy it’s pasta with tenerumi Sicilian style, while for us Sicilians it’s “a pasta cche taddi” — part of Sicilian cuisine and grandma’s recipes. Certainly it is not a quick summer pasta, or at least not for the rest of the world, but I assure you that for us Sicilians there is nothing more summery than pasta with tenerumi, perhaps with a generous grating of ricotta salata or caciocavallo. Do you remember the pasta with long zucchini that we prepared with the soup of long zucchini with potatoes and tomato? Well, for many people pasta with taddi is made by adding the tender parts, the leaves and the new shoots of the long zucchini (the “taddi”) to that same soup, and then cooking the pasta in it. But there is another grandma’s recipe for pasta with tenerumi: “a pasta cche taddi alla palermitana”! A drier, more substantial pasta with tenerumi, less like a “soup” than the first version. The Palermitan-style pasta with tenerumi is made with broken long pasta, boiled tenerumi, a “picchi pacchi” tomato sauce, and the trick is to cook the pasta in the boiling water used for the tenerumi. And I know you’re wondering about the “picchi pacchi” tomato sauce — don’t worry: also called pic pac or picchio pacchio, this is basically a Palermitan tomato sauce, easy and quick to prepare and enriched with sautéed garlic.
Let’s go to the kitchen now: arm yourself with patience and learn how to clean the tenerumi, then make a delicious pasta. Before we start, remember that if you want to keep up with all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer, Autumn
Ingredients for making pasta with tenerumi
- 14 oz pasta (long, broken)
- 2 bunches tenerumi (tender squash leaves)
- 14 oz peeled tomatoes (canned)
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste chili pepper
- to taste ricotta salata (salted ricotta) (if desired)
Tools
- Pot
- Pan
How to make pasta with tenerumi
The most tedious part of this recipe is cleaning the tenerumi, so after you’ve gathered very fresh ones, arm yourself with patience and go to the kitchen.
Not all the leaves in the bunch will be usable; collect only the smaller, tender leaves and the tips of the shoots. Sometimes, if tender, you can also gather the stems of the larger leaves.
The important thing is to remove and pull away the fibers, helping yourself with a knife. The most tender part of the tenerumi is always found at the tip where new shoots grow: gather those.
Soak the tenerumi in cool water for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, sauté the garlic in the oil without letting it burn. Add the peeled tomatoes and cook over medium heat,
mashing them with a fork. When cooking is finished and you have obtained a nice thick “picchi pacchi” sauce, season with salt and chili.
Thoroughly rinse the tenerumi, then plunge them into lightly salted boiling water and cook for 10–15 minutes or until tender. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon, drain well, chop them up and add them to the sauce. Cook a few more minutes to let the sauce reduce.
Cook the pasta in the water used to boil the tenerumi, drain it almost completely and add it to the rest of the sauce, toss and plate.
Top generously with ricotta salata and enjoy.
Storage notes and tips
Prepare only the amount of pasta you intend to eat: hot or warm it is much better than cold. The sauce with the tenerumi can be kept in the refrigerator, well sealed in an airtight container, for 3–4 days.
For a vegan version, omit the cheese.
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