{"id":33874,"date":"2022-06-12T17:25:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T15:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/?p=33874"},"modified":"2025-07-28T18:10:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T16:10:34","slug":"green-beans-mortadella-rifreddo-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/green-beans-mortadella-rifreddo-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"My green beans and mortadella Bologna rifreddo recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you read my blog regularly, you already know that I cook according to the seasons, choosing ingredients that are in season and products made by people who put their heart and soul into what they do. For some time now, I have been bringing back to my table herbs and traditional dishes from the Bolognese and Romagna countryside that had been somewhat forgotten.<\/p>\n

Like rifreddi, a meat dish served cold or warm, sliced. I decided to make one with green beans and mortadella (which can also be replaced with other ingredients). As I was cleaning them, I thought to myself, yes, there’s no doubt about it. Late spring is perhaps one of my favorite seasons in the garden.<\/p>\n

My<\/em> countryside<\/b><\/h5>\n

While I was cleaning green beans, I thought. There is no doubt that late spring is one of my favorite garden seasons.
\nWhen I think of the Emilia-Romagna countryside that I know, the one on the border between Emilia and Romagna where I was born and raised, I imagine fields of green and then yellow wheat that follow the wind. It makes me think of the waves of the Adriatic Sea.<\/p>\n

I think of orchards of peaches and apricots; I think of the green of the leaves and the yellow and orange of the sweet-smelling fruits. The endless hum of industrious bees is music to my ears. How many seasons I have picked fruit in my cousins’ farmland, between laughs and eating freshly picked fruits.<\/p>\n

I think of the dark green leaves and the bright red of lone cherry trees. I think of the silver-green poplars that follow the white roads. And to the delicate green of the bladder campion along the ditches.
\nI think of the dark green of the rows of vines and cypresses that, like the poplars, were part of the plant geography of my countryside. Now a little less so. I think of the pine and olive trees in the hills.<\/p>\n

When I think of my countryside, I also see the vegetable garden.<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

The spring garden is a triumph in terms of richness of flavor and has nothing to envy in comparison to summer. The spring garden is the declination of green in all its shades.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are the pale, pot-bellied zucchini of the Bolognese variety (from which derives the name of a famous Bologna dish, zucchini alla Bolognese). There is the bright green of fava beans and peas, the speckled green of asparagus, and the dark, intense green of green beans.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see the shades of blond lettuces ranging from light green to almost white. And then there is the green of the leaves concealing the shy blush of ripe strawberries. Overall, I smell the scent of the almost shimmering green of basil, the first of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Green beans and mortadella Bologna rifreddo<\/h4>\n

This recipe comes from a collaboration with Agribologna, an Italian and local consortium of farmers.
\nWhen I chose green beans to develop the first recipe, I thought of the creative cuisine that nourished me in the first two decades of my life. In a journey of memory, I embraced all the crisp beauty of late spring.
\nI like green beans. And I regret that they are cooked and served in a way I find, at least, so monotonous. Don’t get me wrong, I love them boiled and in salads, often accompanied by equally simple boiled potatoes. But I was raised by a woman who lived out of patterns in life and in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

I thought that the long, thin shape of the green bean is suitable for creating a rifreddo, a typical dish of Bolognese gastronomic tradition. Usually, rifreddo recipes call for meat like veal, capon, or chicken (stuffed capon and chicken are called galantina. They are served thinly sliced).
\nIn this rifreddo recipe, I have combined green beans and pink mortadella.
\nThe two main ingredients are held together by eggs, mind you, choose ones from a farmer. And flavored by fresh, fragrant grated Parmesan cheese.<\/p>\n

Don’t you also think this dish is an invitation to sit at the table with a smile?<\/p>\n

Cook Bolognese cuisine, and life will smile at you,
\nMonica<\/p>\n

Cook with me<\/strong><\/h5>\n

If you are looking for a side dish to accompany green beans rifreddo, besides a simple and always good salad, I suggest two recipes. The first is tomatoes au gratin, a typical recipe of Romagna, good warm and cold (HERE<\/a><\/strong>). The second recipe is quick and easy to prepare. It is a mashed peas and basil pur\u00e9e where I add a few drops of lime, more delicate than lemon. Have you ever tasted it? HERE<\/a><\/strong> you can find the recipe.<\/p>\n

Among the herbs I brought back to my table were bladder campion, which I used to make a great risotto (HERE<\/a><\/strong>), and herb and ricotta cheese balls (HERE<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

One of the recipes I prepare most often in the spring and summer is stuffed zucchini bolognese (HERE<\/strong><\/a> is my family recipe).<\/p>\n

Keep in Touch<\/b><\/h5>\n