Rustic Pasta With Chickpeas (Pasta e Ceci)

The secret to cook this rustic pasta with chickpeas is to let the pasta cook in the creamy chickpeas puree and absorb all their amazing flavour.

Today is 15th of June and is the World Meat Free Day, so I thought to talk about the pasta with chickpeas.

As a matter of fact, in the past in Italy chickpeas and the other legumes were called “carne dei poveri” – the poor man’s meat.

Meat was indeed too expensive for most of the population, and has been so for thousands of years (till the XXth century, when the average yearly meat consumption tripled in a few decades, from 15 kg per capita in 1951 to 47 kg in 1981).

But for sure the peasants could find all the proteins they needed in legumes.

Nowadays almost everybody can afford to buy meat, at least in the Western countries, but the massive amount of meat consumption is what mainly causes health problems in the same countries.

So let’s be poor people and enjoy our new meat: legumes!

Pasta with Chickpeas is a versatile dish that you can have more soupy or drier according to your taste and…season. In some parts of Italy “pasta e ceci” looks more like a soup, in others more like a pasta dish.

If I want the chickpeas to be just a dressing for my pasta I cook the pasta in very little stock so that when it is ready there is hardly any liquid left.

On the other hand if I fancy more a soup I leave more liquid in the pot when I cook the pasta.

Anyway both ways this pasta and chickpeas is good.

And to be honest I don’t bother measuring liquid and chickpeas (I only did it this once for being able to write the recipe) because the result is always a thumb up.

And you will see that once you cook your dried chickpeas, making pasta with chickpeas recipe will be easy peasy!!!

Ingredients for Pasta and Chickpeas:

• 325 gr dried chickpeas or 650 cooked.
• 1200 gr stock in which the chickpeas have cooked (see how to cook dried chickpeas)
• 270 gr short pasta as ditalini, maccheroni or conchiglie
• Salt
• Pepper

How to Prepare Pasta and Chickpeas:

If your chickpeas are stored in your fridge, place stock and chickpeas in a large pot and bring them to the boil.

If you have just cooked them they are already boiling.

With a sieve drain more or less half of them and set aside.

With an immersion blender purée the remaining chickpeas in the pot.

At this point add the pasta and the other chickpeas.

Adjust the salt.

Stir frequently because the “chickpeas cream” might stick to the bottom of your pot.

When the pasta is cooked serve it with a dash of extra vergin olive oil and a sprinkle of pepper.

Do not drain it.

NOTE: If you don’t want to be bothered with a scale just consider to leave approximately 5 cm of liquid above the chickpeas before you drain half the chickpeas.