Leonardo Romanelli's Pasta e Ceci, or Chickpea and Pasta Soup

While the chickpeas are simmering, chop, or more precisely, dice the onion.

Leonardo began by cutting the onion in half, and then made a series of closely spaced vertical cuts from the top of the onion almost to the root area. He followed the vertical cuts with closely spaced horizontal cuts, and then cut crosswise to obtain diced onion without chopping, which can crush the onion and release bitter juices.

He then crushed the second garlic clove with the flat of the knife, peeled it, and chopped it, rocking the knife blade back and forth over the pieces.

You can use a blender to chop herbs, he says, but doing these quantities by hand is much quicker.