Then try chick peas. Here's a recipe for ceci alla pisana, chick peas Pisan style: one cooks the legumes and serves them and their broth over toasted bread. It will be nice in the cooler months, and will serve 6:
Prep Time: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 pounds (600 g) chick peas, soaked overnight
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
- An onion, minced
- A clove of garlic, minced
- 4 salted anchovies (the kind you buy whole from a tin in a deli, or 8 filets) rinsed, boned and mashed
- 2/3 pound (300 g) beet greens, tough ribs removed, blanched
- A ladle of tomato sauce
- Toasted Tuscan-style bread
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes, then stir in the anchovy filets. Drain the chick peas and add them to the pot, together with the blanched beet greens, check seasoning, stir in the tomato sauce, cover, and simmer it over a very low flame for a couple of hours or more, checking every now and then; add a little water if it appears in danger of drying out.Toast the bread, set it in soup bowls, and ladle the chick peas and their broth over it.
Yield: 6 servings of Ceci alla Pisana.
