One normally thinks of pasta with beans -- pasta e fagioli or pasta fagiul -- and almost every Italian town has a recipe. One doesn't hear about pasta and chick peas anywhere near as often, though the combination will work just as well. This recipe is from the Marche, where it was tradition to make a batch on the day the fields were sown with grain, in the hopes that the harvest would bring wheat the size of the chick peas.
To serve 4 you'll need:
To serve 4 you'll need:
Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) chick peas
- 1 pound (400 g) short ribbed pasta, for example ditalini
- 2 ribs celery
- 2 carrots
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 6-inch (15 cm) sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Begin the night before by setting the chick peas to soak in abundant water.
The next day drain them rinse them, and return them to the pot with abundant water to cover, and the vegetables and herbs. Salt lightly and bring the pot to a boil, then let it bubble for 45 minutes. At this point remove and discard the vegetables, which will have surrendered their essences, blend a third of the chick peas, and return them to the pot.
While the soup is cooking bring a second pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the pasta until it's just shy of being done. Drain it, stir it into the chick peas, boil everything for a minute more, stirring gently, check seasoning, and serve, with olive oil at the table for people to drizzle over their soup.
The wine? A light red, for example a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, or a white.
