Tuscan Cooking, Pasta e Ceci, Chickpea and Pasta Soup

[lesley]

I made this because we'd eaten it in Florence & loved it. It's really a simple peasant dish from Tuscany but so healthy & as we are digging our way out of the snow this week I decided to do a batch & freeze it...although I could have just stuck it outside the back door!! It's nice with crusty bread or corn bread.

Prep Time 10 mins
Cooking Time 35 mins
Ingredients
1 Small onion
1 large celery stick
1 Large clove of garlic
2 X 400g Tins chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 X 400g Tin chopped tomatoes
500ml Ham or chicken stock
Small sprig of rosemary
Handful of basil, chopped
Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
100g pasta (see Cook’s tips)
Rock salt and ground black pepper
Method

You can either finely chop the onion, celery and garlic or blitz them in a food processor
Heat a little extra virgin olive oil in a heavy casserole dish
Add the onion, celery and garlic
Season with rock salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gently cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently
Add the chopped tomatoes and sprig of rosemary
Pour in 500ml of ham or chicken stock
Bring to the boil and add the chick peas
Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally
Strain the soup, reserving half the chick peas and tomatoes in the sieve
Pour the remaining chick peas and tomatoes back into the soup and bring to the boil
Blitz the soup with a hand held stick blender or use a food processor
The soup now becomes a creamy mixture
Add the other half of the chick peas and tomatoes along with the pasta (see Cook’s tips)
Bring back to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the pasta is al dente
At this point you can add more boiling water if necessary (your choice)
Stir in a handful of chopped basil and flat leaf parsley
Remove the sprig of rosemary
Season to taste
Serve with warm crusty bread

Cook's tips

Any kind of pasta can be used, but the smaller the better
__________________

[The Ironic Chef]

Interesting, We make pasta fazoli and pasta chee-chi-tee all the time. We like to add sausage to ours at times too. I like the idea of hitting it with the wand to puree the peas or beans. I have never heard of doing that before.
One herb that I do love in these soups though is a lot of fresh oregano. At times some red pepper flakes too.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Looks absolutely delicious, Lesley!

[jpshaw]

I gotta get me one of them stick blenders.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

I gotta get me one of them stick blenders.

They're purty nifty, John. I used one for many things in the old days when I was cooking for crowds.

[jpshaw]

Aw, we just use a trolling motor when we're cooking for a crowd Kevin. BTW I am still enjoying your cookbook.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Aw, we just use a trolling motor when we're cooking for a crowd Kevin. BTW I am still enjoying your cookbook.

I can just picture it now, JP- Ha! Or... for extra-large groups, maybe an air boat?

Glad you're enjoying the book, sir. I've given it to many and I use several recipes in it quite a bit, from time to time!

[ricksrealpitbbq]

lesley that soup looks like just the thing for cold day. Like IC I've had pasta faziola and it's one of my fondest memories growing up

[scubalaydee]

oh my goodness Lesley it's totally amazing, I grew up on chick peas, and never thought of making chick peas soup....I love chick peas, I have cooked curried, stewed,fried,toasted
chick peas but never in a soup, I am definitely going to the store to buy what we call channa this is an indian name for chick peas I am making this soup asap. F.Y.I. You can buy dried chick peas, place them in a bowl of water overnight, and they look just like the canned chick peas, but better because they are natural without preservatives.