Pasta e Ceci
by Luca + Nico
A classic Italian 'cucina povera' pasta dish featuring chickpeas, potato, and fresh herbs in a super creamy, comforting sauce. The trick is blending some of the chickpeas and potato with pasta water to create a velvety sauce — perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal.
Source: Website — Our Cooking Journey
1.Boil the water
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, ready to cook your pasta.
2.Sauté vegetables
Drizzle a pan with extra_virgin_olive_oil.name, add the brown onion, finely chopped and potato and cook for about on a medium heat. Stir in the rosemary sprig, stalk discarded and leaves finely chopped and sage sprig, stalk discarded and leaves finely chopped and cook for . Make some space in the middle of the pan and add 1 tbsp tomato paste. Stir it in and cook for a few minutes.
3.Add chickpeas
Add 200 g cooked chickpeas to the pan along with 150 ml vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for on a medium-low heat with the lid on.
4.Cook the pasta
Meanwhile, cook 200 g pasta tubetti in the boiling water until al dente. A small shape like tubetti or dadini works perfectly for this sauce.
5.Blend the sauce
When the chickpea, potato and onion sauce has had about 5 minutes of cooking (i.e. with 5 minutes remaining), remove half of it from the pan and blitz it together with a few ladles of the pasta water to achieve a nice creamy sauce. Set aside.
6.Combine pasta and sauce
Transfer the cooked pasta directly from the pasta water into the pan with the remaining chickpeas, potatoes and onions. Pour in the blended creamy sauce and stir well. Turn the heat off.
7.Finish and serve
Add a drizzle of extra_virgin_olive_oil.name and the parsley, finely chopped. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of the reserved pasta water to loosen it. Stir well again before serving.