Some dishes do not come from cookbooks. They come from centuries of hands doing what they had to do to survive.
Cuturro is a polenta made from coarsely cracked Sicilian durum wheat, an ancient grain, ground on lava stone, cooked in broth until it thickens into something dense and nourishing. The word itself comes from the Arabic kuturu, meaning crushed grain. For generations of Sicilian braccianti — farmworkers who were paid not in money but in whatever the land was yielding that season — cuturro was a complete meal. It was sustenance, not cuisine. After the war, it vanished. The modern world had no use for it, and the people who remembered how to make it were dying.
Learn more about Chef Mario Traina.
Cavolo trunzo is a violet-streaked kohlrabi that grows only in the volcanic soil around Mount Etna, in the towns that carry the prefix “Aci” — Acireale, Aci Catena, Aci Castello. It became a Slow Food Presidium in 2012, which is another way of saying it was nearly extinct. The entire plant is edible: the bulb, the long leaves, the thick stems. Even the tough outer fibers go into the broth. Nothing is discarded.
I pair these two forgotten ingredients in a dish that may have existed on peasant tables centuries ago, though no book records it. The cuturro is cooked in a broth made from the trunzo trimmings themselves, perfumed with wild fennel seeds and lemon peel.
The ragù is built slowly with spring onions, garlic, the cubed bulb, the sliced leaves, and a spoonful of strattu: sun-dried tomato paste that ferments naturally into something with an acidity and depth that no factory product can touch. It reduces into a dark, succulent sauce that you pour over the cuturro like lava over stone.
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Sicilian Durum Wheat Polenta with Slow Food Kohlrabi Ragù
4
servings30
minutes40
minutesFor the broth
2 2 cavolo trunzo (Sicilian kohlrabi), outer fibers and tough stems reserved from cleaning
4 cups 4 water
3 3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
handful of wild fennel seeds
2 strips 2 lemon peel
salt to taste
- For the ragù
2 whole 2 cavolo trunzo
3 tbsp. 3 extra virgin olive oil
4 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. 2 strattu (Sicilian sun-dried tomato paste) or double concentrated tomato paste
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- For the cuturro
1 cup 1 coarsely cracked durum wheat (semola grossa or cracked farro as substitute)
4 cups 4 trunzo broth (from above)
- To finish
aged Sicilian pecorino with black pepper, finely grated (raw milk, free-range)
Prepare the Cavolo Trunzo
- Peel the bulbs, removing the tough outer fibers.
- Set the fibers aside for the broth.
- Cut the bulbs into small cubes.
- Separate the leaves from their thick central stems.
- Tear away the green leafy parts and set aside.
- Slice the stems and the green parts finely.
- Make the broth
- Place the reserved outer fibers and tough stems in a pot with the water, crushed garlic, wild fennel seeds, and lemon peel.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.
- Strain and season with salt.
- You should have about 4 cups of fragrant broth.
- Build the ragù
- In a wide, heavy pan, warm the olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the sliced spring onions and cook gently until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the sliced garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the cubed trunzo bulbs and the sliced leaves and stems.
- Stir well and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until they begin to soften.
- Add the strattu and stir until it coats everything, darkening slightly.
- Pour in about 1 cup of the trunzo broth, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, adding small splashes of broth if it dries out.
- The ragù is ready when it has reduced into a thick, succulent, deeply flavored sauce.
- Cook the cuturro
- Bring the remaining 3 cups of trunzo broth to a rolling boil.
- Scatter the cracked durum wheat into the broth slowly, letting it fall like rain, stirring constantly to prevent lumps.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens into a dense, creamy polenta.
- It should hold its shape on a plate but remain soft.
- Plate
- Spoon the cuturro onto warm plates, spreading it like polenta.
- Ladle the ragù di Cavolo trunzo generously over the top.
- Finish with a shower of finely grated aged pecorino with black pepper.
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