pasta con ceci
Pasta with chickpeas
This surprisingly simple and tasty Roman dish is perfect to fight the grey and cold autumn or winter days. It use to be a poor man's dish because it was originally created to use left overs and pantry staples. …and rosemary is in any case growing every where in Italy. It quickly gained more popularity with the rest of the natives and you can find it in a lot of restaurants and homes these days. The recipes vary from stew to soup, pasta dish or a mix of all 3. However, it doesn't matter in which form you eat it, it is worth trying,
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cans chickpeas each 400 g, drained
- 3 springs fresh rosemary, stripped, finely chopped each 15 cm long, divided 1:1
- 2 cans whole peeled tomatoes, pour the tomatoes and liquid into a bowl and squash the tomatoes with your hands.
- 500 g penne pasta
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 60 g fresh pecorino grated, plus extra shavings
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot (we cook everything in one pot)
- Brown the onions in the hot oil until they become translucent and slightly brown around the edges
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, careful not to burn the garlic.
- Mix in the chickpeas and half of the rosemary and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the tomatoes and season very generous with salt and pepper.
- Mix in the pasta, the chili flakes and 1 liter drinking water and stir everything.
- Cook the pasta according to the packet instruction plus at least 5 minutes extra, you have to taste the pasta, to see if it is cooked through or needs more cooking time. Keep stirring the pasta to prevent it from burning at the bottom. If it looks too dry, add some more water.Because you don't cook the pasta in pure water, the cooking time is longer.
- When the pasta is cooked to perfection, add the grated pecorino and stir. Add a little more water if necessary and check the seasoning. Usually more salt is needed.
- Before you serve the pasta, top it with fresh rosemary and shavings of peccorino.