Ever tried vignarola? The typical spring recipe from Lazio

The Roman vignarola is a side dish of mixed vegetables, a historic and little-known dish of Lazio cuisine that is worth repeating.

Vignarola is a traditional Roman dish, when only fresh, seasonal vegetables were still consumed, and without too much processing.

The original recipe, typically spring, involves the use of fresh peas and broad beans, but if you don't have them, or it's not in season, you can also use frozen ones. In this case, calculate half the quantity for both vegetables, and check the cooking times, which are usually longer, by tasting them.

Preparation of the vignarola

1. Fill a bowl with water and squeeze the lemon juice into it.
2. Clean the artichokes : cut the stem and then peel them. From the head of the artichoke, remove the tough outer leaves and cut the tips with the thorns. Cut them in half, remove the internal beard, cut them into thin slices and immerse them in the bowl with the acidulated water .
3. Shell the peas and broad beans separately until you obtain 150 g each, then set everything aside.
4. Wash and cut the lettuce into strips and chop the spring onion.
5. Now take a pan with slightly high edges and heat a drizzle of oil.
6. Once hot, add the spring onion and diced or striped bacon and cook both for a few minutes .
7. Now drain the artichokes well and place them in the pan to cook for about 10-15 minutes, adding, if necessary, some broth made with the vegetable scraps.
8. Now add the broad beans and peas, add a little more broth if needed and cook for 10-15 minutes with the lid on.
9. Finally, add the chopped salad and cook until all the vegetables are soft and cooked (about 5 minutes will be enough)
10. Finally, add salt and a few chopped fresh mint leaves and serve.

And here is a video recipe almost identical to ours, so as not to forget a single step:

How to prepare broth with scraps for vignarola

As mentioned, you can prepare some broth to use for cooking the side dish, which will give even more flavor to the dish.

Then take the scraps of spring onion, artichokes and a few pods of broad beans and peas (if you bought them fresh), put everything in a saucepan with about 1.5 liters of water and cook for 30 minutes from the boil. Drain all the vegetables, add salt and leave the broth on a low heat to keep it warm.