Chickpea Soup with Saffron, or Minestra di Ceci con Zafferano: This Sardinian chickpea soup is one of the more colorful soups I've come across. To serve 6 you'll need:
Prep Time: 24 hours, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces (350 g) dried chickpeas
- 10 ounces (300 g) fresh spinach or beet greens
- 8 ounces (200 g) dry pasta -- ditalini or some other small, tubular form
- An onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron
Preparation:
Soak the chickpeas for at least 24 hours, or more if you have the time. Rinse them well, picking through them to remove stray stones, rub them between your fingers to eliminate seed skins, and set them to cook in 1 1/2 quarts of water.While they're cooking wash the spinach well. When the chickpeas are about half done (a bit more than an hour) add the spinach and a pinch of salt, and continue to cook over a moderate flame.
In the meantime, sauté the minced onion separately. When it has become a gentle gold stir it into the chickpeas along with the saffron and continue cooking. Once the chickpeas have become soft and creamy stir in the pasta, cook, stirring, until it is done, adding a little more boiling water if necessary (the soup should be thick but not bone dry), and serve.
The wine? A white, perhaps a Vermentino from the Tuscan coast.
