Total time:20 minutes
Servings:2 to 4
Jim Dixon, founder of Wellspent Market in Portland, Oregon, discovered this dish in the early 2000s after a 1996 trip to Italy that spurred a longtime obsession with regional Italian cuisine.
“I see it more as an approach than an actual dish,” says Dixon, noting that there are many variations. Sometimes vinegar is added, other times garlic or pepper or lemon juice. Some cooks find these additions controversial, but everyone cooks their own.
I was doubly wrong thinking that the pinzimonio was served in early fall to showcase the most recent olive oil pressing. Instead, Dixon says, it’s more vegetables than oil. Beatrice Ughi of Italian import company Gustiamo agrees. (To celebrate olio nuovo, or the first pressing of olive oil, Italians serve fettunta, which is oil-soaked bread. The dish’s name comes from the Tuscan dialect: fetta for “slice.” and unta for “oily” or “greased”. . ”
While spring vegetables are beautiful and tender, fall vegetables deserve their own kind of celebration. Let’s have some pinzimonio tonight, then. For this variation, I added a garlic white bean dip to round out the meal. It’s not traditional, but it’s a great pairing and a good way to squeeze more protein into that dinner.
There are a seemingly endless number of ways to approach the dish. I love that at its heart, the dish forces the eater to pay attention, to taste the individual vegetables and oil, to appreciate the flavors that are often cooked and combined and blended into another whole. Taste a baby kale leaf, a purple carrot, a fresh broccoli floret – really taste it. The oil and a pinch of salt will slightly enhance the flavors of each vegetable, as if you were putting them under a magnifying glass.
That’s exactly the idea behind a dish that occasionally appears on the menu at San Francisco’s Flour+Water restaurant. It’s called pinzimonio, but instead of serving the vegetables with a small bowl of oil and salt to dip and sprinkle on, co-chef Thomas McNaughton pulverizes each baby carrot and lettuce leaf with a mixture of olive oil, a kind of acid – a vinegar or lemon juice – and shio koji, a marinade made from fermented cereals that gives a touch of umami. “Our job as a kitchen is to give people the perfect bite,” says McNaughton. With this style of pinzimonio, no bite goes to the under-seasoned table.
In practice, you might not want to go into this level of gourmet detail at home. But consider providing each person with their own personal plate of pinzimonio. “I’ve found the key is to give each diner a small bowl of olive oil so the table doesn’t get covered in oil as it inevitably drips from bowl to mouth,” Dixon says.
Pinzimonio with White Bean Dip
- Use all the vegetables you have. Feel free to include bread or crackers, if desired.
- Cannellini beans make a particularly creamy dip >> but any white bean will work.
- Instead of garlic >> try a teaspoon of chopped rosemary.
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- One can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (or 1 1/2 cup cooked white beans, drained)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- Chilled water, as needed
- Fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 small carrots (10 ounces total), washed
- 2 small fennel bulbs (8 ounces total), sliced
- 1/2 cup snow peas
- 1 red bell pepper (8 ounces), sliced
- 8 small radishes (6 ounces) (can substitute cauliflower)
In a food processor, combine beans, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Process until smooth and thick. With the processor running, drizzle with a little ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dip is thick but creamy. Taste and add lemon juice if desired, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, spread the dip in a shallow bowl. Drizzle with a few glasses of olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Serve with carrots, fennel, peas, bell pepper and radishes or cauliflower, for dipping.
Per serving (1/4 cup dip, 1 1/2 cup vegetables), based on 4
Calories: 243; Total fat: 11 g; Saturated fat: 2g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 373mg; Carbohydrates: 32g; Dietary fiber: 9g; Sugar: 9g; Protein: 6g.
This analysis is an estimate based on the available ingredients and this preparation. It should not replace the advice of a dietitian or nutritionist.
From personal writer G. Daniela Galarza.
Tested by Ann Maloney; questions by e-mail to [email protected].
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Check out this week’s Eat Voraciously recipes:
Monday: Vegetable broth with matzoh balls flavored with lemon and thyme
Wednesday: Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Crispy Broccoli
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