“Travels” in Molise

This is it, this is the last destination of my attempt to cook something from each of the twenty regions in Italy. And no, I’m not going to start trying to do each province within the regions next.

Molise ended up last for a few reasons. I’ve never been there. I know very little about it – it’s one of the smallest regions. And, initially, I had not located a region-specific cookbook. I solved the cookbook issue recently when I found a tiny, soft-bound Molise cookbook. The pen in the picture is thicker than the book. I am clearly the target audience here.

The forward of the cookbook explains that the food of Molise is similar to that of Abruzzo, which is not at all a surprise considering that they border each other. The forward also explains that pork is often the base of dishes, so I took some liberties with the recipe for lentils with potatoes by adding pancetta, and making a few additional changes.

I am a big fan of lentils, and while I use the brown much more often, I went with green lentils for this and they worked out very nicely.

Lentils with Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1/4 pound pancetta, finely chopped

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 3 stalks celery, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 cup green lentils

• 3 medium to small potatoes (about 1 pound total), 1/4 inch dice

• 2 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste

• 1 bay leaf

• Salt and pepper

Directions

• Heat olive oil over medium in stock pot. Add pancetta and cook until pancetta begins to brown. Add the onions and celery, sprinkle with about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and cook until they start to soften, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute more.
• Add lentils, potatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, and water to cover (about 3 cups water should be about right keep an eye on the water, and add more if necessary, but do not start out with too much. You don’t want mushy lentils).
• Bring to simmer, reduce heat, cover, simmer for about 25-30 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender. Keep an eye on it at the end to make sure it does not stick.