Pasta e ceci — pasta and chickpeas, pronounced roughly 'pasta eh CHEH-chee' — is one of Italy's oldest comfort foods, and one most Americans have never tasted. It belongs to what Italians call cucina povera, or 'poor kitchen.' The thrifty peasant cooking that turns a handful of cheap pantry staples into a filling meal. The dish is genuinely ancient: the Roman poet Horace described eating pasta with chickpeas more than 2,000 years ago in his Satires.
Cheap, filling, and rich in protein, chickpeas made the dish a standby across central and southern Italy, and especially in Rome, where cooks traditionally served it on Fridays as a meatless meal, according to Rome's tourism office. The earliest versions had no tomato at all, since tomatoes did not reach Italy from the Americas until centuries later.
Ingredients (serves 4)
– 3 tablespoons olive oil.
– 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
– 2 to 3 anchovy fillets (optional, but traditional in Rome)
– 3 cloves garlic, sliced
– 1 sprig fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
– 2 tablespoons tomato paste
– 2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
– 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, plus more as needed
– 1 piece Parmesan rind (optional)
– 1 cup ditalini or other small pasta (broken spaghetti works too)
– Salt and black pepper
– Grated Parmesan or Pecorino.
Directions
1. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, along with the anchovies if using, and cook until the onion is soft and the anchovies have melted into the oil, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and rosemary and cook one minute.
2. Add the tomato paste and stir it around the pot for a minute or two to deepen its flavor.
3. Add the chickpeas, broth, and Parmesan rind if using. Bring to a gentle simmer. For a creamier pot, scoop out a ladleful of chickpeas and broth, blend or mash it smooth, and stir back.
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes to let the flavors come together.
5. Stir in the pasta and cook until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring now and then so it does not stick. It should be thick and spoonable
6. Remove the rosemary stem and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in bowls topped with grated cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.