Budget meals from around the World: Italy
In Italy cucina povera (peasant cooking) has been feeding large families on beans, stale bread, cheap cuts of meat, and whatever grew in the garden for centuries.
The Facts
- Cucina povera is one of the most resourceful budget-cooking traditions
- Dried beans and chickpeas do the heavy lifting and stale bread is never wasted
- Flavour comes from garlic, onion, rosemary, and tomatoes
Cucina povera literally translates as ‘poor kitchen’. It sustained generations of Italians and centered around dried beans, day-old bread, cheap cuts of pork, foraged greens, and whatever vegetables were in season. Nothing was wasted: Bean cooking liquid was used as broth, pasta water thickened sauces, and stale bread was revived in soups.
Its worth noting that traditional Italian bread did not contain the chemicals that keep today’s ‘wonderbread’ moist forever. It would therefore dry out in a day. Hence the need for recipes that could rescue hardened loaves.
Cucina povera’s principles can easily be applied to modern-day budget cooking. Simple and flexible by design it’s less about following specific recipes and more about being creative with ingredients.
Italian budget dishes worth making:
- Pasta e Fagioli: Pasta and beans in a thick, garlicky tomato broth
- Ribollita: Tuscan bread and bean soup made with kale, cannellini beans, and stale bread; the name means re-boiled, because it improves the next day
- Pasta e Ceci: Pasta with chickpeas in a rosemary-flavoured tomato broth
- Panzanella: Tuscan salad of stale bread soaked in tomato juice and dressed with olive oil and vinegar
- Aglio e Olio: Spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and chilli flakes
- Minestrone: Thick vegetable and bean soup that varies by season
- Polenta with braised greens: Coarse cornmeal cooked until thick and creamy, served with garlicky sauteed greens
Sources for inspiration:
- Pasta e Fagioli by A Simple Palate
- Ribollita by mangia with michele
- Pasta e Ceci by The Mediterranean Dish
- Panzanella by La Cucina Italiana
- Aglio e Olio by Cooking with Ayeh
- Minestrone by A Simple Palate
- Polenta with braised greens by Fresh Bites Daily