The countryside northwest of Caltanissetta and around the municipality of Villalba is characterized by the cultivation of lentils and tomatoes. The first evidence of the production of Villalba lentils is reported by Giovanni Mulè Bertòlo in the book Memorie del Comune di Villalba (1900), but it is certain that this legume was present in the area since more remote times. The period of maximum production was between the 30s and XNUMXs of the last century, when about XNUMX% of the Italian production came from Villalba. The cultivar was particularly sought after for its size and organoleptic qualities (a high iron and protein content, a low phosphorus and potassium content). Subsequently, the cost of labor, limited yields and importation at significantly lower prices forced many farmers to abandon its cultivation. Keeping alive the memory of the Villalba Lentil, which after becoming part of the Slow Food Presidia is once again finding favour on the market for its unmistakable flavour, is today Mareme Cisse, chef of the restaurant Ginger – People&Food from Agrigento.
Born in Senegal, Mareme arrived in Italy, to be precise in Agrigento, twenty years ago. Mother of four children (three of whom were born in Italy) she immediately rolled up her sleeves to ensure food for her family. She had a certain familiarity with food: as a child during the school holidays she went to lend a hand in her aunts' restaurant in Dakar. So in 2005, she began cooking at home where she had set up three tables in the living room and was immediately appreciated for the goodness and quality of her preparations. The leap in quality came a few years later, in 2013: she received a call from the Al Kharub cooperative, which in Arabic means carob, a symbolic plant of the Mediterranean area, to organize a fundraising dinner. From that initiative was born the idea of giving life to a real restaurant, Ginger - People&Food, today very popular in the city by a heterogeneous clientele. Her cuisine is a fusion of Senegalese recipes with tradition and local ingredients. The dish that has consecrated her with critics and the general public is the couscous with which in 2019 Mareme won the world championship at the Cous Cous Fest in San Vito Lo Capo. She offers several versions of meat, fish and vegetarian.
“Whoever enters Ginger is as if they were boarding the train of my life,” says Mareme. “It’s nice that my work is appreciated here in Sicily, far from my Senegal. Nice because three of my children were born in Italy and I myself feel and define myself as Sicilian.”
Precisely for this reason he is keen to reject the label of ethnic cuisine: "the word ethnic is just a label that takes away value from food" And in fact from his kitchen come Sicilian-Senegalese dishes in the sense that Mareme tries to rediscover the common origins of the two culinary traditions by revisiting the recipes using mainly local products and Slow Food Presidia such as the buttiglieddru tomato from Licata, the cosaruciaru bean from Scicli, the Modica breed caciocavallo, the red garlic from Nubia, the cottoia broad bean from Modica. His lentil meatballs are an eloquent testimony to his culinary philosophy and of what results can be obtained with the wise and happy meeting of two apparently distant gastronomic cultures but only from a geographical point of view: Without forgetting to underline the great nutritional properties of this dish: the red cabbage is a real concentrate of Vitamins e minerals. powerful ally of the immune system, rich in Vitamin K, important for the blood clotting , bone health and anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that help fight free radicals, responsible for cellular aging. Even more nutritionally powerful is the function of lentils: precious ingredients for our balance capable of stabilizing blood sugar helping to keep blood sugar levels under control, reduce bad cholesterol levels and keep the arteries clean, rich in folates capable of reducing homocysteine levels in the body, a substance that, if present in excess, constitutes an important cardiovascular risk factor and magnesium instead improves the elasticity of the arteries, helps maintain a regular heartbeat and ensures good blood circulation. Among the many properties, lentils contain discrete quantities of vitamin K, a substance implicated in the health of the skeletal system. Its integration in fact promotes the correct functionality of some proteins, essential for preserving bone mineralization and density.
The recipe for stewed lentil meatballs with red cabbage and apple
Ingredients for four people
200 g Villalba lentils Slow Food Presidium
200 gr red cabbage
1 and ½ apple
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 tablespoons of rice flour
1 teaspoon Gran Masala
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1 lemon
Rosemary
Pepe
Sale
Extra virgin olive oil
Method
Soak the lentils for at least three hours; cut the onion, carrots and
the garlic into small cubes, salt, add the rosemary and together with the lentils
steam cook for about 35 minutes.
Once cooked, blend everything with a kitchen mixer, adding the
rice flour. Lightly wet your hands with a little oil and make meatballs with
the resulting mixture. Coat the meatballs with rice flour, place the mixture on
a plate and let everything rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.
Meanwhile, wash and finely julienne the red cabbage. Take
the apples, peel them and cut them finely as above. Then put the meatballs
in a pan and leave to cook in a preheated oven at 180° for 10 minutes. In a
deep pan put a drizzle of oil and add the cabbage, the apple, the salt, the
pepper and Gran Masala. Fry over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring
every now and then. Add the vinegar and lemon juice.
Let it evaporate for a couple of minutes, stirring. Add a ladle
of vegetable broth or simply hot water. Cook over low heat for
another 10 minutes with the lid on. Then add the meatballs, increasing the
flame and cook for another two minutes: the dish is ready! Once the
heat, grate a little lemon zest over the meatballs and serve.
