There’s a certain kind of comfort that only Mediterranean food can deliver – the kind that feels sun-warmed even when the days are short. Think of it as a balm for October evenings: chickpeas simmered with rosemary, a bowl of pasta tangled with bitter greens, or crisp zucchini flowers fried in golden batter. These are dishes that ask little more of you than good olive oil, a few store-cupboard staples and the promise of something nourishing at the end of the day.
What’s striking about the Mediterranean table in autumn is how naturally it shifts gears. Tomatoes give way to brassicas; the soft sweetness of summer replaced by deeper, nuttier flavours. A spoonful of chickpea purée or a tangle of orecchiette with cime di rapa might be peasant food by origin, but in the right light – and with a generous drizzle of peppery extra virgin olive oil – they feel quietly luxurious. They remind us that simplicity, done well, is the truest kind of comfort cooking.
Pasta e ceci with tubetti and broccoli rabe pesto
A humble Puglian classic reimagined with a bright, nutty pesto and a drizzle of the good stuff (Trulli Ulivi)
A reflection of the Mediterranean trinity of pasta, legumes and olive oil. Pasta e ceci is about family nourishment and one of the quiet daily dishes from the countryside in Puglia.
Serves: 4
Time: 20
Ingredients:
2½ cups of cooked chickpeas
500ml of chickpea water
Handful tubetti pasta
Sliced baby carrots (cooked in the chickpea water with a sprig of rosemary until tender then remove the rosemary when carrots are cooked)
For the broccoli rabe pesto:
1 small bunch broccoli rabe (also known as rapini)
Toasted almonds
4 cloves roasted garlic
200g Pecorino, grated
Salt and pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Method:
1. Clean the broccoli rabe of any tough stalks and blanch in salted water, ensuring it remains bright green and not too al dente. Drain thoroughly and chill.
2. In a food processor, blend everything together except the olive oil. Once everything is finely chopped, add the oil and process until smooth. This will take only seconds; no longer.
3. Cook the tubetti al dente and add to the hot chickpeas in their carrot broth. Serve with the broccoli rabe pesto and more olive oil.
Orecchiette con le cime di rapa
The ultimate southern Italian comfort food – bitter greens, salty anchovies and oil so fragrant it almost hums (Trulli Ulivi)
Orrechiette con cime di rapa is a true expression of the region’s peasant cooking and resourcefulness; never about luxury. It reflects the agricultural heritage with turnip tips or broccoli rabe, which grows abundantly in this climate, and pantry staples such as flour and preserved anchovies, which are readily available and inexpensive.
It is a dish that epitomises rustic and refined. Orecchiette pasta made with durum wheat semolina and water (no eggs), making it denser and chewy, contrasted with the slightly bitter earthiness of the cime di rapa, balanced with the richness of extra virgin olive oil, a little garlic, salty anchovies, which give umami for backbone and chilli flakes. A deeply satisfying plate of perfection. There are some regional variations within Puglia, such as the addition of toasted breadcrumbs and pecorino.
Serves: 4
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
300g orecchiette
3-4 cups cime di rapa, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
2 dried birds-eye chillies, crushed
5 large anchovies in oil
60g pecorino stagionato
Zest of half a lemon
4 tbsp of toasted breadcrumbs
90ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra drizzle over the finished dish
Method:
1. Begin by cooking the orecchiette in salted boiling water. Meanwhile in a large pan, cook the garlic gently in olive oil until it is just turning golden, add the chilli, then the anchovies and let them melt into the oil. When the pasta is 3 minutes from al dente, add the cime di rapa to the pasta and cook together.
2. Lift the pasta and cime from the pasta water with a skimmer (taking a little cooking water with it) and drop it into the anchovy pan, tossing well to coat. Check the seasoning with salt and pepper.
3. Serve hot with an extra drizzle of olive oil, grated pecorino, toasted breadcrumbs and lemon zest.
Fritto of sage, fiore di zucca and anchovies
Crisp, golden and fleetingly seasonal – the kind of snack that demands to be eaten hot, with fingers and lemon wedges (Trulli Ulivi)
In Puglia, zucchini flowers keep coming through summer into September and the sage leaves are thick and full. Look for a large Cantabrian anchovy to be a salty partner in this trio of delicious crunchiness.
Serves: 4
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
Handful l fat sage leaves
4- 6 zucchini flowers
8 large anchovies in oil
Oil for frying
For the batter:
100ml beer
100ml iced water
¼ tsp salt
Around 200g plain flour (chilled in the freezer)
Method:
1. To make the batter, add the flour and salt into the wet ingredients (50/50 water and beer) and stir together – don’t whisk until smooth, but lumps are fine.
2. Keep the batter cold before you need to use it.
3. When ready to cook, coat each ingredient in the batter and then fry separately until dark and golden in colour. Season with fine salt and serve with a chunk of lemon.
These recipes are from Trulli Ulivi, the olive oil project founded by Tony Papas and his wife Maureen in the heart of Puglia. Working among the ancient olive groves of the Itria Valley, they produce small-batch, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil that captures the region’s sun, soil and soul – and the essence of Mediterranean cooking itself.
Dining and Cooking