Australian Gourmet Traveller – (02)February 2019 (1)

122 GOURMET TRAVELLER

400 gm green beans

60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil, plus

extra for drizzling

4 spring onions, white part

only, thinly sliced

20 gm dried coarse

breadcrumbs

½ cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf

parsley, chopped

½ cup (loosely packed) mint,

chopped or torn

Juice of 1 lemon

1 Rinse, dry and cut off the tops

of the beans (if they are very

long, you can cut them in half

too). Bring a saucepan of salted

water to the boil and cook the

beans for a few minutes, or until

they are still bright green and

with a slight bite to them. In the

meantime, prepare a bowl full

of iced water. Drain the beans,

then immediately transfer them

to the iced water to cool

them down quickly and stop

the cooking process. Dry on

clean tea towels.

2 Meanwhile, heat the oil in

a pan over a low-medium heat

and cook the sliced spring

onions until softened and

slightly golden (about 1 minute).

Add the breadcrumbs, season

to taste, and continue cooking

for a few minutes or until the

crumbs are golden and crisp,

then remove from the heat.

3 Toss together the drained

beans, the breadcrumb mixture,

herbs, lemon juice and an extra

drizzle of oil in a bowl. You can

serve this immediately, but I also

like it at room temperature.●

COZZE RIPIENE

Stuffed mussels

SERVES 4-6

“This is one of those dishes that requires love and time to prepare

• you may want to enlist the help of others with the stuffing part,
  distribute glasses of wine and enjoy a good chat while you tie
  each mussel shell,” says Davies. “Like polpette and many other
  dishes of Puglia’s cucina povera tradition, the work that goes
  into this beautiful meal can cover both a first and second course


• the rich tomato sauce, infused with the sea flavour of the
  mussels, is used to dress pasta for the first course, while the
  mussels are eaten separately, as the main course.”Pictured p117.

FAGIOLINI SFIZIOSI

Green beans dressed in breadcrumbs

SERVES 4-6

“Fagiolini sfiziosi, or fagiulini spilusieddi in dialect, can be translated

as beans that are either appetising, satiating, frivolous or fanciful

• or perhaps all of these things,” says Davies. “I came across this
  simple dish bursting with fresh flavours during my very first visit to
  Puglia one early summer. As we drove from one end of Puglia to
  the other, I was enthralled at the sight of field after field of luscious
  vegetable patches growing in deep-red soil. This is a great dish for
  a barbecue; you can make it in advance and, when the flavours
  have had time to get to know each other, it’s all the better for it.”

1 kg mussels, scrubbed

and beards removed

125 ml dry white wine

60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil

2 garlic cloves

400 gm canned peeled or

chopped tomatoes

100 gm day-old or stale country

bread, crusts removed and

coarsely chopped

125 ml (½ cup) milk

200 gm (1½ cups) fresh

breadcrumbs

100 gm pecorino or parmesan,

grated

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup (loosely packed)

flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 Discard any mussels that are

cracked or open and won’t

close when gently tapped. To

open the mussels, heat them

in a wide pan with the wine over

a high heat. Cover, and shake

the pan occasionally to help the

mussels move around (the ones

on the bottom will find it harder

to open fully than the ones on

top). After about 1-2 minutes,

check them and, with a pair

of tongs, remove the mussels,

one by one, as they open and

transfer them to a large bowl.

Continue until all the mussels

have opened (any that are still

tightly shut can be discarded).

Strain the mussel liquid left in

the pan – either use a very

fine-mesh sieve or a regular

sieve lined with a paper towel

and set over a bowl. Refrigerate

until ready to use.

2 In the same large pan, gently

infuse the oil with one of the

garlic cloves (smashed with the

side of a large knife) over a low

heat. Infuse gently for about

5 minutes, or until fragrant and

This extract fromTortellini at

Midnight and Other Heirloom

Family Recipes from Taranto

to Turin to Tuscanyby Emiko

Davies with photography

by Lauren Bamford and

Emiko Davies (Hardie Grant

Books, hbk, $52) has been

reproduced with minor

GT style changes.

softened. Add the tomatoes and

about 125ml water, along with

roughly half of the reserved

mussel liquid. Increase the heat

to medium and bring to the boil.

Simmer gently for 10 minutes,

then set aside. Season to taste.

3 For the stuffing, soak the

stale bread in the milk and finely

chop theother garlic clove.

Combine the garlic with the

fresh breadcrumbs, pecorino,

egg and parsley. Pour the rest

of the mussel liquid over the

top and season with pepper.

Squeeze any excess liquid

from the milk-soaked bread

and crumble it in. The stuffing

should come together and stay

together when you squeeze a

spoonful of it in your hand; if

it’s too crumbly, you can add

a bit of the milk that the bread

was soaking in.

4 Take a spoonful of the filling,

squeeze it in your hand to make

it compact, then fill an opened

mussel shell and wrap a short

piece of kitchen string around it

tightly to keep it closed. Repeat

with the rest of the mussels.

5 Place the stuffed mussels

in the pot of tomato sauce and

top up with some extra water

to ensure the mussels are

submerged. Cover, and bring to

a gentle simmer over medium

heat. Try not to stir the pot too

much; if the mussels haven’t

been tied tightly enough,

you risk them opening. Simmer

for 15 minutes.

6 Serve the mussels with a

sharp knife to cut the strings

(alternatively, cut them all off

before serving) and provide

finger bowls to clean fingers.