zuppa di radicchio e fave bianche
for 6
1 kg radicchio, finely sliced, then roughly chopped
250 g dried skinless broad beans, soaked overnight
5 garlic cloves, peeled, 3 finely sliced
1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves and stalks
2 fresh red chillies
4 tablespoons olive oil
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 dried red chillies, crumbled
juice of 1 large lemon
extra virgin olive oil
Drain the beans. Place in a saucepan, cover with cold water and add the 2 whole garlic cloves, the parsley stalks and fresh red chillies. Bring slowly to the boil. Skim the surface, turn the heat down and gently simmer for an hour or until tender. Keep in their cooking liquid.
Heat the olive oil in a large, thick-bottomed frying pan. Fry the remaining sliced garlic gently, then add two-thirds of the radicchio. Stir and fry until the radicchio becomes limp and is starting to brown. Season with salt, pepper, dried chilli and half the lemon juice. Add the cooked beans and a couple of ladles of their cooking water, and cook together for a further 5 minutes, no longer. Place in a large saucepan.
Take half the soup, put into a food processor and pulse-chop briefly, just to break up the beans, not to purée them. Return this mixture to the saucepan with enough of the remaining cooking water to make the soup more liquid if necessary. The soup should be thick. Check for seasoning.
Chop the parsley leaves and mix with the remainder of the radicchio. Season with salt and pepper, then add the rest of the lemon juice and 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Serve, stirring the tossed raw radicchio and parsley into the soup. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.