Autumn cooking workshop at the Mercat Central de Sabadell

Two Italian autumn recipes that could perfectly be from here: that is the idea behind this autumn cooking workshop at the Mercat Central in Sabadell.
Chestnuts, pumpkin, and mushrooms, the same pantry we have at the market in October, cooked the Italian way.

On one hand, a chickpea and chestnut soup that comes from Upper Lazio, classic “cucina povera”; on the other, chicken with pumpkin, mushrooms, and sage that tastes like Northern Italy.

Both are for 4 people, and on this page, you will find the complete recipe collection for the workshop: ingredients, utensils, all the steps, my secrets for making them turn out perfect, and, below each recipe, the step-by-step video.

At the end, I also tell you how to prepare them from scratch and how to make a good vegetable broth at home.

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Chickpea and chestnut soup (zuppa di ceci e castagne)

From Upper Lazio, the Viterbo area, where chestnuts from the Cimini Mountains and local chickpeas meet in a single pot. Textbook “cucina povera,” with three classic products: the chickpea provides the body, the chestnut the sweetness, and the rosemary the perfume.

For 4 people

⏱ Preparation time: 10 min
⏱ Cooking time: 30 min

Utensils needed

Pot · colander · bowl · knife · hand blender

Ingredients

• 700 g cooked chickpeas, drained (or 300 g dried chickpeas)
• 360 g cooked and peeled chestnuts, halved
• 900 ml vegetable broth (or the water from cooking the chickpeas, if you make them at home)
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or halved
• 2 sprigs of rosemary and the leaves of one
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 slices of day-old bread (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. The chickpeas. If they are canned, rinse them in a bowl with water, swirling them twice with your hand, and drain them well. If they are from the cooked legume stall at the market, do not rinse them: they are freshly cooked and you would only wash away the flavor, so just drain them and that’s it. In both cases, let them drain for five minutes.

2. Perfume the oil. Put 4 tablespoons of oil over low heat with the garlic, the rosemary sprigs without the leaves, and the bay leaf, until it becomes fragrant. The garlic should not take on any color.

3. Sauté the chickpeas for 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat, moving them little, so they take on the perfume of the garlic and herbs.

4. Add the tomato paste and let it heat for half a minute, mixing it with the chickpeas.

5. Moisten with the hot broth and let it simmer gently for 10 minutes.

6. Add the chestnuts halved and cook for 10 more minutes.

7. Remove the rosemary, bay leaf, and garlic. Blend a third of the mixture with the hand blender and return it to the pot.

8. Taste and adjust the salt, if necessary. Add the finely chopped rosemary leaves.

9. Serve with generous pepper and a drizzle of raw oil. Accompany with toasted bread, if you like. Let it rest for five minutes before serving.

The secrets

Sautéing the chickpeas is the step that changes everything. Those minutes in the pot perfume them with the oil and aromatics and give them much more flavor, especially if they are canned.

Rosemary, in two stages. Only the sprig at the beginning and the chopped leaves at the end. Leaves fried for a long time release a resinous bitterness. At the end, however, they provide freshness.

Salt always at the end. Cooked chickpeas are already salted and the broth reduces while it boils. These are two sources of salt that you cannot control until the last moment.

Allergen information

Celery (in the broth) · Gluten (if served with bread)

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Chicken with pumpkin and mushrooms (bocconcini di pollo con zucca e funghi)

Pumpkin, mushrooms, and sage: a classic combination from Northern Italy, the same as in pumpkin ravioli. Thigh or chicken leg quarters are better, as they hold up better in the stew without drying out.

For 4 people

⏱ Preparation time: 20 min (plus 30 min resting time to salt the chicken)
⏱ Cooking time: 30 min

Utensils needed

Large frying pan or wide casserole dish · knife · cutting board · bowl · colander · grater

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken leg quarters (about 700 g)
• 500 g pumpkin, in 1 cm cubes
• 400 g fresh mushrooms (portobello, porcini, or whatever you like)
• 20 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 450 ml vegetable or chicken broth (200 ml to soak the porcini and 250 ml more)
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed with skin on
• 8 sage leaves
• 120 ml dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 40 g cold butter (optional)
• Salt and black pepper

For the parsley and lemon gremolata

• A generous handful of parsley, leaves only
• The zest of 1 lemon, yellow part only

Preparation

1. The porcini, soaking for 20 minutes in 200 ml of warm broth. Keep everything: the strained liquid also goes into the stew.

2. Cut the chicken leg quarters into 4 cm pieces and salt them half an hour before cooking. If they have skin, leave it on: it dries out and browns much better.

3. The mushrooms, over high heat, in a single layer and without touching them until they brown. Salt at the end, never before, or they release water and boil instead of browning. Set aside.

4. The chicken, in the same pan, skin side down if it has it, over medium-high heat, for 5 or 6 minutes without moving it until it releases on its own. Brown the other side and leave it in the pan.

5. White wine over high heat with the chicken inside, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spoon. Let the alcohol evaporate: you will know because it stops smelling like alcohol. Remove the chicken with its juices and set aside.

6. Garlic and sage in the same pan, until the garlic takes on a little color. Then add the pumpkin and sauté for a couple of minutes, so it gets coated.

7. Add the strained porcini broth, the chopped porcini, and the remaining 250 ml of broth. Wait for it to start a gentle boil.

8. Return the chicken with its juices and the mushrooms, once the broth and pumpkin are already boiling. Cover and cook for 12 minutes over low heat or until the pumpkin is cooked.

9. Uncover and reduce for 3 minutes, until the sauce thickens a little.

10. With the heat off, add the cold butter and move the pan so it emulsifies. (Optional step)

11. Sprinkle the parsley and lemon gremolata on top just before serving.

The secrets

Butter, always at the end and with the heat off. It is what gives shine and more body to the sauce.

The parsley and lemon gremolata is not for decoration. The dish is sweet, fatty, and earthy. The lemon lifts it and provides the counterpoint it lacks. Grate the lemon directly over the already chopped parsley, which is where you want the oils to fall.

Allergen information

Celery (in the broth) · Sulfites (white wine) · Dairy (if butter is added)

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If you want to start from scratch

The soup with chickpeas from the cooked legume stall comes out in half an hour and is delicious. But if you want to make them at home:

Dried chickpeas

Soak the 300 g for 12 hours. Then, cook them in cold water without salt with the garlic and a bay leaf, over very low heat, for an hour and a quarter. Salt them only in the last ten minutes and do not throw away the cooking water: it acts as a broth and is much better than any industrial one.

Fresh chestnuts

500 g. Make a cross-cut in the skin and put them in boiling water with the bay leaf for 25 or 30 minutes. Peel them while hot, taking them out of the water three at a time, since if they cool down, the film sticks and you lose half of them.

With fresh chestnuts, add them equally at minute 10 and halved, but keep in mind that they take a little longer to soften.

The mushrooms

I use portobello: it is economical, available all year round, and has much more flavor than the white button mushroom. If your budget allows and you find them, you can swap a portion for fresh porcini, or do half and half.

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The vegetable broth

Both recipes use it, and making it at home costs neither money nor effort.

For 1 liter: 1 medium onion, 1 carrot, half a stalk of celery, 1 bay leaf, and 5 peppercorns. Chop the onion and carrot and sauté them with a tablespoon of oil until they turn golden. Add the rest and the cold water, and leave it for 40 minutes over very low heat, without letting it boil hard. Strain it. You get about 800 ml.

No salt. The broth reduces while it cooks and the cooked chickpeas are already salted. If the broth is already salted, you are left with no room to adjust at the end.

If you use industrial broth

Almost all contain salt, and many are loaded with celery flavor and extracts that end up masking the chestnut and the porcini.

• Choose a low-salt one if you can find it.
• If not, dilute it with water. The good test: if you wouldn’t drink it in a mug, it’s too strong. One part water for every three parts broth is usually enough. With the cheaper ones, one for every two.
• If it is a cube or powder, use half of what the package indicates.

Diluting it fixes two things at once: the salt and the excess concentration.

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Enjoy your meal!