Winter Warmer Salad
We have Italy at home!! 🇮🇹 Let’s recreate & elevate one of my favorite dishes in Rome with Bioitalia beans and olive oil. This recipe serves as a nourishing reset for the New Year, using simple, high-quality ingredients. Bioitalia has been making 100% Italian-made products for three generations in Southern Italy. Every product has a traceable QR code to show you where, how, and who grew your pretty little lunch! See how it’s made here.
Ingredients:
1 Delicata squash, cut into ½” thick rounds, seeds removed
Bioitalia Olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper
¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon red chili flakes
1 can of Bioitalia Cannellini beans, drained
1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon (or 1 teaspoon lemon zest and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt)
1 lemon
4 cups of finely shredded chicory (puntarelle, sugarloaf, radicchio or romaine if you can’t find anything else) I will explain this in Step 4
3 anchovies, plus a few more for serving
1 garlic clove
Make it!
Preheat the oven to 425 F° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Marinate the beans! In a medium bowl add the drained Bioitalia Cannellini beans, dill, preserved lemon and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. The beans should be swimming in it! Set aside at room temperature.
Lay the squash rounds on the baking sheet and drizzle with a generous coating of Bioitalia olive oil. Sprinkle on a pinch of sweet paprika and a few pinches of salt. Using your hands, rub the olive oil and spice into the rounds, flipping them over until evenly coated. Bake for 15 minutes on the first side and flip for 10 more minutes, or until golden brown on both sides. Remove.
Chicories! Prepare a large ice bath with a squeeze of lemon juice. Submerge the freshly shredded chicories to keep them crisp and to prevent browning. Set aside on the counter.
Make the dressing! If you have a mortar and pestle, add 1 garlic clove, 3 anchovies, and ¼ cup of olive oil to it. Mash it into a consistent dressing. There should be no visible chunks of garlic or anchovy! Alternatively, if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, mince the garlic clove and anchovies together on a cutting board. Add to a small bowl with ¼ cup olive oil and whisk together.
Assemble! Right before serving, drain the chicories and run them through a salad spinner to remove excess water. In a large bowl add the chicories, the dressing, and a generous few grinds of black pepper. Toss and squeeze half of a lemon all over, toss once more and taste. To plate: place 1 cup of the dressed chicories on the bottom of a plate, then pile on a big spoonful of marinated beans (and the juices), lastly a few squash rounds and if you like, an anchovy on top! Finish with more chili flakes and flaky sea salt. Enjoy!
