Pancotto is the quintessential poor man's dish -- and I say that with all the respect and love it deserves. It was born out of the need to waste nothing: stale bread that is never thrown away, garden vegetables that change with the seasons, a drizzle of good oil at the end. My mother Ilda made it when the fridge was almost empty -- and the result was always extraordinary.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 300g stale San Marco in Lamis bread (or good Pugliese semolina bread, at least one day old)
- 3 medium potatoes
- 1 bunch of wild chicory
- 1 bunch of chard
- A generous bunch of wild fennel fronds
- 200g cherry tomatoes
- Gargano extra virgin olive oil -- generous
- Salt to taste
Method
Prepare the bread
Cut the stale San Marco bread into irregular chunks. If you do not have San Marco bread, use good stale Pugliese semolina bread. Fresh bread does not work -- it must be hard, almost dry.
Prepare the vegetables
Wash and roughly chop the chicory and chard. Clean the wild fennel keeping only the most tender parts. Peel the potatoes and cut them into large irregular pieces -- if they are big, cut into 4, if smaller, into 2. Wash the cherry tomatoes and halve them.
Cook the potatoes
In a large pot, bring plenty of salted water to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the chicory, chard and wild fennel. Cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the bread and tomatoes
Add the cherry tomatoes and the stale bread pieces to the pot. Stir well. The bread absorbs the broth and softens -- it should become soft but not completely mushy. Cook for another 5-8 minutes over medium heat. Adjust the salt.
Serve
Drain the pancotto leaving very little liquid -- it should be almost dry, not soupy. Serve in bowls with a generous drizzle of raw Gargano extra virgin olive oil. The contrast between the warmth of the pancotto and the freshness of the raw oil is what makes all the difference.
My tips
- The dish is humble but the oil must be good -- it is the one ingredient you never skimp on.
- The vegetables change with the seasons and with what you have: in summer fresh tomatoes and courgettes, in winter cabbage and escarole. There is no wrong version.
- Wild Gargano fennel is the touch that changes everything -- if you cannot find it, use fennel seeds or fresh fennel.
- The bread must be genuinely hard and stale -- fresh bread falls apart too much and becomes mush.
- Some people add a poached egg on top of the hot pancotto -- it is optional but very good.
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