A seasonal dish

broad beans and pecorino cheese

May has started and you can all ready see in all the vegetable gardens of the more precise old farmers, lush and beautiful broad beans. But  if, as in my case, you had not prepared your vegetable patch in time to plant broad beans  ,… .., then you must buy them!  However ( I am a little bit jealous..) considering that they are fully in season ,the cost is very low and it is worth buying them, because the goodness of broad beans eaten fresh or cooked is something you can enjoy just in  this season of the year. For a large part of Italy, it is traditional to eat on the 1^st of May broad beans with pecorino cheese( fave e pecorino). This combination of flavors from ancient times, farmers and shepherds  have always considered the best mix. The broad beans are peeled and eaten with small pieces of cheese that’s all. I ,for my part, decided to create a recipe that follows this mix of flavors. So I bought the beans, cleaned them so they are free of their skin and then boiled them .I used most of them to make a fresh pesto with fresh goat’s cheese and a handful of pecorino cheese, pine nuts and chives. Here is my version of a simple dish, traditional and super good!

Serves 2
200 grams of pasta Reginelle (or bavette or spaghetti)
500 grams of fresh broad beans
80 grams soft goat cheese
30 grams of grated pecorino cheese
20 grams of pine nuts
Fresh chives
Evo Oil
Salt and pepper
How it works:
Clean the beans and take off the skin. Boil for 5 minutes and then drain . In a blender combine and mix together: ¾ of the broad beans, goat cheese, 20 grams of pecorino cheese, part of the chives, 4 tablespoons of evo oil, salt and pepper. In a small pan brown lightly the pine nuts. Cook pasta, and drain . In a serving bowl mix together pasta, the bean pesto, pine nuts, finely chopped chives, pepper, the remaining cheese and the rest of the broad beans. Serve hot.