MORE PLEASE - CUCINA POVERA

Clever Italian cooking to stretch ingredients and a 20% discount code from Hodmedods

Cucina Povera has become somewhat of a catch all term for Italian food. Indeed, there are plenty of Italian dishes that are often mistaken for being part of the Cucina Povera, or “kitchen of the poor”, when actually they are simply a fairly traditional use of products that were around at that time and in that place. Italian food, as I think I have said before, is brilliant in this simple celebration of the ingredient and dedication to seasonality and location. Cucina Povera is a bit different, I feel. It is more easily distinguished by the lack of an ingredient. Its recipes are cleverly constructed to succeed without the presence of a luxury; most often meat, fish or dairy. And this ingenuity is what has always attracted me to it.

It is important to note here that every country has it’s own Cucina Povera of course. I am however an Italophile through and through and have much more experience and knowledge in this cuisine. Plus it has it’s own handy, evocative name too.

Pasta and all other starchy, cheap carbs like bread, potatoes, rice, polenta and pulses are fundamental to Cucina Povera, filling in the gaps and filling tummies. I think the use of bread in particular is ingenious. The other foundation of Cucina Povera is the avoidance of waste. If something was old but edible and wouldn’t poison you, then it needed to be eaten. So bread, stale to the point of being usable as a weapon, would never ever be chucked. Instead it is transformed into salads like Panzanella, soups like Acquacotta or Pappa al Pomodoro, pasta doughs like Passatelli, dumplings like Canederli and puddings like Torta di Pane. In fact I have covered two great recipes already here - divine Polpette di Pane are incredibly moreish fake meatballs made with bread and Bucatini e Mollica uses crunchy breadcrumbs instead of cheese as a topping for pasta.