Our journey of research and discovery of traditions continues, with a recipe from Ciceri e Tria. We decided to challenge our resident chef Ivan Tronci by inviting him to innovate a dish from the great culinary tradition of Salento.
The result was magnificent, flavorful, elegant. Disproving those who claim that traditional cuisine cannot be innovated, it was all too easy…that’s because behind the stove cooked Ivan Tronci and not us.
We at Foodismo want to please everyone.
If you are curious to find out how the traditional recipe, a symbol of Salento, is made, you can safely click on this article“Ciceri e trìa, Massa di S. Giuseppe or Massa e ciceri: symbolic dish of Salento.
Small tips for innovating a traditional dish
Our chef, during the preparation of the dish, with extreme humility, made two basic suggestions for innovating a traditional dish:
- Select raw materials very carefully by choosing ingredients from our land, the land of Salento; if it is not possible to have ingredients from the area, we suggest you draw on other ingredients with the same organoleptic properties and nuances of taste;
- To know the traditional recipe thoroughly, to control all stages of preparation and cooking of raw materials in an exemplary manner, and to taste the ensemble of ingredients continuously.
The ingredients of our Ciceri e Tria or Massaciceri
The ingredients used for our recipe are as follows:
- Nardò chickpeas (Principe chickpeas in case you find it impossible to find Salento chickpeas)
- Black chickpeas
- Celery “lace”
- Carrot
- Igp white onion from Margherita di Savoia or a classic onion boretana
- Bay leaves
- Ground black pepper
- Espelette pepper
- Evo oil
- Salt
- White wine
- Garlic
- Crispy roasted bacon
Ingredients of homemade pasta
To prepare homemade pasta, we used remilled durum wheat semolina flour, water, salt and EVO oil.
Remember to keep a small amount aside because you will need to use it to garnish the dish, after frying it in sunflower oil.
Preparation of the recipe
Before kicking things off, for twenty-four hours, we soaked Nardò chickpeas and black chickpeas separately, because they have different textures.
The next day we prepared the homemade pasta, using remilled flour.
Preparing homemade pasta: simple procedures to follow
In preparing homemade pasta, we followed these simple procedures.
We arranged the durum wheat semolina flour in a mound and added salt, water and olive oil, in the following order, to the mixture.
After mixing the dough with our hands, we rolled it out and made it thin, without overdoing it, with a rolling pin on a wooden board.
After doing this, we cut the dough, forming elegant noodles that we put to dry and dry, inside a floured baking pan, for a couple of hours before baking.
Preparing the chickpeas: the ciceri e tria is taking shape
After draining the chickpeas carefully, we put them to cook with a mirepoix of vegetables (celery, carrots and onion) that we prepared on the spot.
While cooking, we inserted a few bay leaves and some ground black pepper into the pot.
The chickpeas and pasta blend into a tasty embrace
After the chickpeas are perfectly cooked, we put our homemade pasta to cook in another pot; when the pasta is ready, we stir-fry it together with the chickpeas and their cooking broth.
At this very moment, incredible scents have released from our pot.
Setting: the tradition deserves to be presented in an exemplary way, as in our photograph
The recipe is complete, now all that is missing is the finishing touch.
Take a soup plate (we used a typical Salento dish, created by our favorite master potter) and arrange the result of your recipe with creativity and good taste.
We set and garnished the dish with the crispy guanciale, pasta chips fried in sunflower oil, fresh parsley leaves and a sprinkling of espilette pepper.
The pepper used is a spicy pepper that we used instead of the classic chili pepper. This is because it has the same taste and gives an aromatic spiciness that is not too aggressive for the palate and the flavors of the recipe.
All that remains is to wish you bon appetite and leave a comment or suggestion below.
If you would like to get to know Otranto, the city of our chef, you can click here and book your place to experience Salento as real Salentini, with real Salentini.
