Recipe: Maccu (Lentil and Bean Stew)

Maccu (Lentil and Bean Stew)
CELEBRATING MARCH 19TH
From the American Institute for Cancer ResearchSt . Patrick's Day means boiled cabbage and corned beef - to say nothing of soda bread - to many. And just two days later, the Italian feast of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph) means a bowl of Macc , a hearty vegetable stew that is healthy and easy to make.

Made differently in various parts of Italy, the Sicilian version is flavored with fennel and thick enough to support a spoon. Like most foods associated with a holiday, it serves both symbolic and practical ends.

St. Joseph's Day, falling two days before the Spring solstice, celebrates the new crops sprouting in the fields. Macc - loaded with chickpeas, split peas, and lentils, borlotti (or kidney beans) and sometimes chestnuts - reminds everyone of last year's bountiful harvest, and they pray the new one will equal or surpass it.

On a practical level, Italians, who eat far more beans and legumes than we do, know that freshness matters. Beans from the most recent harvest cook more quickly and have a more velvety texture than they will after sitting around for a year or more. Making Macc cleans out the current year's harvest, so these beans do not sit around unused during the roasting summer months when it is too hot to eat them. In autumn, the pantry is restocked with the new crop.

At first, Macc probably resembled the pure of favas eaten by the ancient Romans, one of the many waves of foreign invaders who influenced Sicilian cooking. Later on, the pure was thinned enough to ladle over pasta and topped with saut ed onions and chopped tomatoes. Today, pasta is often included in the soup, along with fresh Swiss chard or spinach.

To season Macc , Sicilians use the intensely licorice-flavored wild fennel, which grows abundantly on this sunny island, and borage, a wild plant that tastes faintly of cucumber. Because our fennel is milder and sweeter, punch up its flavor by adding fennel seeds.

Using beans cooked from scratch is ideal, but this version uses some that are canned.

Macc (Lentil and Bean Stew)

1/2 cup green lentils
1/2 cup green split peas
1 can (15-oz.) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 medium bulb fennel, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped fennel leaves
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus 4 tsp. for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup spaghetti broken into 1/2-inch pieces
3 Swiss chard leaves, stemmed, cut in 1/2-inch strips

Place lentils and split peas in large Dutch oven. Add 4 cups cold water. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Add chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, fennel, fennel leaves, fennel seeds, red pepper and 2 Tbsp. oil. Cook uncovered until lentils are almost soft, 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add spaghetti and chard. Cook uncovered until pasta is soft and chard is tender, about 15 minutes. Divide soup among 8 bowls. Use remaining olive oil to drizzle over each for garnish.

Flavor improves when made ahead and reheated, but seasonings will need to be adjusted. Store covered in refrigerator up to 5 days. Reheat over medium-low heat in covered saucepan.

Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 202 calories, 5 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat), 32 g. carbohydrate, 10 g. protein, 5 g. dietary fiber, 108 mg. sodium.