Pasta e Ceci

The Method for Pasta e Ceci

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1. Soften the onion in the oil 8 minutes, then add the garlic, the anchovies if using, and the chilli, and cook 2 minutes.

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2. Stir in the tomato purée and cook 2 minutes.

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3. Add the chickpeas with their liquid, the whole rosemary sprigs, the salt and the water. Simmer 20 minutes.

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4. Fish out the rosemary. Blend a third of the soup until smooth and stir it back in.

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5. Add the pasta and cook it directly in the soup, stirring often so it does not catch, until al dente — usually 10 minutes.

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6. Let it stand 5 minutes off the heat; it thickens considerably.

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7. Serve with a generous pour of raw olive oil and plenty of black pepper.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Things to Watch For

1. Blend a third of it. That is the body.
2. Cook the pasta in the soup, not separately.
3. Whole rosemary sprigs, removed before serving.

If You're Missing Something

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

A Little Background

A third of the chickpeas is blended and returned to the pot, which is what gives the dish its body — otherwise it is chickpeas and pasta sitting in water. The pasta also cooks in the soup rather than separately, so its starch thickens things further; drained pasta added at the end leaves a thin broth. Rosemary goes in as a whole sprig and comes out, since chopped rosemary in a soup is unpleasantly woody.

On the Table Alongside

Crusty bread · A glass of Frascati · Green salad

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Parmesan Polenta, Cauliflower Risotto, Ciabatta.

Keeping Pasta e Ceci

Refrigerated for 3 days; it thickens enormously. Loosen with water. It freezes without the pasta.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted. How the figures are worked out.

Vegan when made without the anchovy fillets. Vegetarian when made without the anchovy fillets.

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