Today, I have chosen to share with you a tried-and-true family recipe, which I believe will win you over just as it did me and my sisters when we were still young girls, and my mother prepared it for us! One day it emerged that she had experimented with a chicken dish with an unusual taste, breaking the habit of serving the classic Sunday dish! Since that day, every year, during this season, we recreate it at least once as if it were a true tradition to uphold, with the same success every time! This dish has a surprisingly unusual taste due to the cooking of seasonal vegetables and legumes deglazed with apple cider vinegar and the final addition of fresh Pecorino shavings, for me strictly Sicilian, and strips of speck, which I can assure you are a wonder! For those who prefer a milder version, you can omit the speck, whose absence will not significantly alter the final result! I am for “without” recipes; you know me by now, so I rather prefer to omit than to add, but this is the exception that proves the rule! So, if you, like me, love to bring to the table main courses with an exotic and fresh taste, you cannot miss this truly original and easy-to-make recipe. Moreover, it’s also healthy, thanks to the addition of fresh fava beans, rich in fiber, proteins, iron, and minerals. The only downside of this dish, I must say, is the cleaning of the legumes, a bit tedious and nerve-wracking, but the final result will make up for this small sacrifice! A big thanks to my mom for this beautiful and original culinary heritage!
If you like white meat, here are some other ideas to take inspiration from:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring
Ingredients:
- 5 slices chicken breast
- 300 g fava beans (already shelled)
- 2 carrots
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 fresh scallion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 potato
- 2 white zucchinis
- 60 ml apple cider vinegar
- 80 g speck slices
- 50 g Sicilian pecorino (in shavings)
- 50 g pine nuts
- 50 g raisins
- A few leaves basil
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- 1 Knife
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Wok
- 1 Pan
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Ladle
Preparation
After shelling the fava beans, with the help of a knife, begin by removing the small protrusions they have at one end.
Remove one by one also the skin that covers them and wash them under running water.
On a cutting board, cut the chicken breasts into strips.
Boil them in salted water with the celery, carrots, and onion for 3′ at most.
Meanwhile, wash the zucchinis and potato, peel them and cut them into small matchsticks, or even better, into a brunoise.
Brown the scallion in a non-stick pan with 2 tablespoons of oil and a ladle of chicken broth. Then add the vegetable brunoise and sauté over high heat for a few minutes.
Deglaze with apple cider vinegar and let it evaporate, keeping the flame high for another 2′.
Add the fresh fava beans, lower the flame and continue cooking for 5′.
Flavor with raisins and pine nuts.
Continue cooking for another 10′ covered, adding hot chicken broth only if necessary, allowing the sauce to thicken.
In the last 2′, complete by adding the chicken strips, mix well with the other ingredients, and season with salt and pepper. Turn off, let it cool slightly, and flavor with Pecorino shavings.
Dress everything with two more tablespoons of raw oil, finally add speck strips, a few fresh basil leaves, more Pecorino shavings if desired, and mix everything.
And voilà… the exotic chicken salad with fava beans and Sicilian Pecorino is ready to be enjoyed!
Bon Appétit from La Cucina di FeFè!
Storage
👉 You can store the exotic chicken salad with fava beans and Sicilian Pecorino in the fridge covered with food wrap for up to 2-3 days.
Tips and Suggestions
🟣 I recommend preparing the exotic chicken and fava bean salad the day before consumption so that all the ingredients absorb the flavors and the dish is particularly tasty and balanced when served.
🟣For those following a stricter diet, the recipe can be slightly lightened by omitting the raisins and base vegetables (zucchinis and potatoes), keeping only fava beans and chicken. In this case, prepare a classic vegetable broth, separately brown half a leek and a scallion, add the fava beans, deglaze with apple cider vinegar, let it evaporate, then pour in 2-3 ladles of vegetable broth. Simmer for 10-12′ on low heat. Add the chicken strips directly in the pan along with the pine nuts and continue cooking for another 6′-8′ at most. Season with salt and pepper, turn off, and flavor only with Pecorino shavings without adding speck, which, as mentioned above, does not substantially change the flavor of the dish. It will still be delicious!
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can chicken be substituted with turkey?
This recipe can easily be adapted to suit personal taste preferences, so feel free to use turkey instead of the classic chicken breast.
