Seasonal Easting

One of my greatest culinary pleasures

There are many reasons why I chose Sicily as my other home. The sunshine and beauty of the island of course but most of all, it was because of how Sicilians still live and eat according to the seasons. I was shocked the first time I asked for spring onions at the farmers market and was told it wasn’t the season. The same for mint. I never associated these with seasonal eating but here in Sicily they are. And now I love that I can’t get certain foods all year round like I do in London.

So, now that it is spring, I can gorge on one of my favourite vegetables, broad beans. Until this week, I was eating them raw or cooking them with the pods still on. At the beginning of the season, the pods are thin and tender and the beans inside small and super fresh to eat raw, especially when picked on the day the way I had them this last Sunday at Mary Simeti’s in Bosco Falconeria (on the left of the picture). Then, yesterday I went to Verde Prato, my favourite greengrocer in Trapani, and the broad beans were already fat with the pods quite thick and starting to lose their vibrant green colour (on the right of the picture). They were no longer good raw, starting to go starchy, but the owner convinced me to buy them to eat cooked, blanching the beans first then slipping them off their skin.

I thought it would be a fastidious task but in fact it proved to be not only quite easy but also fairly quick. At first, I tore the skin at the top to slip them through that opening but then I quickly realised that if I pinched the skin open on the side, in the middle, the bean would slip out more easily given that the opening would be wider as the skin splits open. I had already decided on what to use them with before I blanched them. I was going to make burghul bil-banadüra (bulgur wheat cooked in a tomato sauce) and add them even if it isn’t very traditional. I had passata from Rino, the father of my lovely Antonina, who preserves tomatoes every summer, both for him and his two daughters but he had very kindly given me some. I had also bought very fresh onions, again from Prato Verde and garlic from Nubia and I had chillies from Calabria that I had also gotten from Prato Verde and dried myself (mise en place below).

I sliced my onions and peeled the garlic and sautéed both in extra virgin olive oil, again from Bosco Falconeria. Once golden, I added my burghul and sautéed it for a couple of minutes before adding Rino’s passata and a little water — this very coarse burghul, which my mother calls kasr el-2ame7 (meaning breaking of the wheat in Arabic), takes longer to cook than the regular coarse one, about 25 minutes. I added one small chilli and salt and let it bubble until almost all of the liquid was absorbed. I like to leave it a little wet, like risotto. I added the peeled broad beans at the very end to keep their vibrant green color. Et voila, lunch was ready. I can’t say in no time but it was both delicious and beautiful.

The exact recipe will be in my new book, to be published in 2025 by Ecco in New York and Bloomsbury in London. As for my life in Sicily, Brexit kind of thwarted my plan of unlimited stays in my beautiful flat with fabulous sea views. Regardless, I am still able to spend half of my time there, even if it is in instalments, which for me are in the spring and autumn and some of the winter, especially when the almond trees are in blossom.

The view from my window towards the end of the afternoon.