Patacò Sicilian recipe made with cicerchia or Sicilian patacò soup, the creamy chickling vetch soup — arguably one of the best in the world and very similar to the recipe for Frascatula or Sicilian polenta! What is cicerchia? Cicerchia is the common name for an ancient legume cultivated in Asia, Africa and Europe, and in some areas of Italy. It is particularly rich in protein, also called chickling vetch or grass pea. If you remember, some time ago we made Chickling vetch soup. What does cicerchia taste like? Its flavor is a cross between fava beans and dried peas. The cicerchia grown in Italy, especially in regions such as Puglia, Umbria, Lazio, Marche, Molise and some areas of Sicily, has been recognized as a traditional Italian agri-food product by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. Today it is rather rare outside the regions that preserve it by tradition, despite being a very tasty legume with high nutritional protein value and naturally gluten-free. Today we will prepare patacò, a traditional and tasty dish based on broccoli and cicerchia flour, typical of a small town located on the border area of the province of Catania: Licodia Eubea. In this small town, where cicerchia producers barely survive due to high production costs and low yields, a festival is organized in November to promote the product, which I discovered during that event. If properly promoted, it could find a broad market in the gluten-free sector (speaking with a producer, he complained about the difficulty of finding a mill that exclusively grinds gluten-free products and the consequent high cost to have cicerchia milled and certified as such). Hoping things will improve and that such an ancient and traditional preparation won’t be lost, let’s cook our patacò: humble, flavorful, delicate and truly comfort food on cold winter days.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Cooking time: 45 Minutes
- Portions: 5 People
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients to make Sicilian patacò
- 2.2 lb broccoli (to clean)
- 8.5 cups water
- to taste salt
- to taste garlic
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup cicerchia flour (flour)
- 7 oz sausage (optional)
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- Pot
How to make patacò
Clean the broccoli, remove the tough parts and boil them in about 8.5 cups of salted water. When the broccoli are fully cooked and very tender, sauté some chopped garlic, add the sausage after removing its casing and brown everything. Drain the broccoli, reserving the cooking water, and add them to the sausage; let the flavors meld. Begin to add a little of the reserved cooking water and then, little by little, the cicerchia flour, alternating water and flour while stirring constantly. As soon as the mixture reaches the desired consistency, add some oil, a pinch of red pepper flakes or black pepper, plate and enjoy.
Notes
The addition of sausage is a modern reinterpretation of a very humble dish that was originally served only with vegetables such as broccoli.
Prepare only the portion of patacò you plan to eat; if any remains, store it in the fridge and once firm, reheat it in a pan.
