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My way with traditional Italian trippa con fagioli (tripe with beans)

My way with traditional Italian trippa con fagioli (tripe with beans)
Add napoletana sauce, mint, and a tin of rinsed borlotti beans. (Photo: Fortunato Mazzone)
Fortunato Mazzone
By Fortunato Mazzone
14 Jun 2024
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In this series, I explore Italy’s cucina povera, the food of the country’s poor people, which is very much in vogue. In this edition, I share my recipe for trippa con fagioli.

Trippa con fagioli translates as tripe with beans, and there are various styles of it in different parts of Italy. They are made with a base of sofrito (sautéed diced onion, carrot and celery), and generally include white wine and tomatoes. 

Some versions include pancetta, others potato, but those are regional variations. My trippa con fagioli is traditional, and I like to serve it with creamy polenta. Lemon and bay leaves also come into play, but only for the initial boiling of the tripe. The water for boiling the tripe must not be salted.

The cucina povera, or poor people’s food, is absolutely in vogue in Italy and around the world at the moment. Even Michelin-starred chefs have seized upon these centuries-old traditional foods served on the tables of the common people in rural Italy, and turned them into fashionable food served in restaurants. 

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

500g tripe

1 lemon, cut in half

2 or 3 bay leaves

2 onions, diced

2 celery stalks, sliced

2 carrots, finely diced

Olive oil

1 glass dry white wine

2 ladles of Napoletana sauce (available in food stores)

1 x 400g can of borlotti beans, rinsed

Mint, chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

Creamy polenta, for serving (make it according to the packet instructions)

Method

Boil the tripe with lemon and bay. Then cool it and cut it into strips. (Photo: Fortunato Mazzone)



Make sure the tripe is spotlessly clean. Boil it in clean water for 10 minutes, with a halved lemon and some bay leaves. No salt.

Plunge the tripe into cold water to cool it.

Cut the cooled tripe into thin strips like broad fettuccine.

For the sofrito: Sautée 2 diced onions, 2 sticks of celery and 2 finely diced carrots in olive oil gently in a casserole pot. Add the tripe and sautée for 5 minutes with the sofrito. Turn up to medium heat.

Add one glass of white wine, two large ladles of Napoletana sauce, some mint leaves, and a tin of rinsed borlotti beans.

Add napoletana sauce, mint, and a tin of rinsed borlotti beans. (Photo: Fortunato Mazzone)



Turn down the heat after 5 minutes.

Stir and cook over lowish heat for an hour.

Check seasoning and add salt and black pepper as needed.

Serve in a bowl with a separate bowl of nice creamy polenta/pap or mashed potato. DM

Fortunato Mazzone is the boss at the Forti Group of restaurants.

 

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