Pasta and Chickpeas Soup

This is an Italian recipe for pasta and chickpeas soup that I learn form my mother. It is easy to prepare but at the end you will have a delicious recipe. I prepared it with dried chickpeas soak in water the day before but you can use also the pre-cooked chickpeas in can, the garlic and the chilli pepper. The type of pasta that I like more for this Italian recipe is spaghetti cut in small pieces but you can always use other types of pasta, the important thing is that it should be small soup pasta like ditalini or maccheroncini.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):

300 g of Chickpeas

1 Clove of Garlic

4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

50 g of Tomatoes puree

200 g of short Pasta like spaghetti cut in small pieces

400 ml of water

Raw salt

Chilli pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes plus the time you leave the chickpeas soak in the water (12 18 hours)

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Ribolla Gialla (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Soak the chickpeas in water the day before. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a large casserole. Add a clove of garlic and let it sauté’. Wash the chickpeas and add them in the casserole. 

Let them sauté for few minutes; add the tomatoes puree, the salt and the chilli pepper. 

Add the water and let the chickpeas cook for about 40-50 minutes. 

During the cooking pay attention if the water reduce too much in case add a little bit more. When the chickpeas are cooked add the pasta and let it cook for about 8- 10 minutes. 

Serve hot. I like pasta with chickpeas in soup.

BUON APPETITO!

Chickpeas with Fresh Tomatoes

This is an Italian recipes simply prepared with the legumes chickpeas and fresh tomatoes. I liked a lot all kind of legumes from beans, lens, chicklings and in particular chickpeas. With chickpeas you can prepare a lot of delicious Italian recipes: like soup of chickpeas, pasta and chickpeas, farinata. Here I prepared chickpeas with fresh tomatoes. You can serve this Italian recipe as a main course or as a side dish with cheese or meat. The preparation of chickpeas with fresh tomatoes is very simple you have just to remember the day before to prepare it to place them in a bowl cover with water and the following step are very easy. Cook chickpeas in the pressure cooker, when they are ready transfer them in a pan with onion and tomatoes and the Italian recipe is ready.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1 Onion
300g or 2 cup of Dry Chick Peas
5 – 6 Tomatoes (the type that you prefer)
3 Spoon of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: the chickpeas should stay almost 12-14 hour in water

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Nardò Rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
The day before the preparation of this delicious Italian recipes that has as main ingredients the chickpeas you should remember to place the chick peas in a bowl and cover them with water.



Leave the chickpeas for almost 12-14 hour in water and then cooked them by using the pressure cooker. I usually cook 300 g of chickpeas with 500 ml of not salted water for 40-50 minutes according to your taste. I usually prefer firmer chickpeas so I cook them for 40 minutes. While the chickpeas cook, chop the onion and cut the fresh tomatoes in small pieces.



When the chickpeas are almost cooked, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the onion and the tomatoes and let them brown.



Add the chickpeas, sauté them for 5 minutes.
Mix all together, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let them cook for other 10-15 minute in order to mix well the taste of chickpeas with that of fresh tomatoes.



Serve chickpeas warm.
BUON APPETITO!

Farinata (Chickpea flat bread)

Farinata of chickpea is a thin pie simply prepared with flour of chickpea, water, extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, salt and black pepper, its preparation and cooking is simple and fast. This is an Italian recipe traditional of Liguria, in particular of Genova, Savona and La Spezia. It can be used instead of bread but also as a main course indeed there are different types of Farinata: farinata with Stracchino that is a soft fresh cheese produced in Lombardy, farinata with sausage or farinata with artichokes. I ate farinata for the first time in La Spezia during my summer holyday last year and now that is summer I decide to try to prepare it at home. The preparation is simple and fast and the result is delicious.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
500 g of chickpea flour
1,5 L of water
5 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 branch of rosemary
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour and 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Bianco DOC (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the chickpea flour in a bowl, add little by little the water and stir in order to not make lumps.



Add the rosemary, some salt and the extra virgin olive oil,





mix all together and let the mixture stand for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Then cover the bottom of a large baking pan with a sheet of baking paper. Pour on it the mixture of chickpea making a thin layer of 1 cm of thickness



and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the surface of Farinata becomes slightly golden.



Serve it hot accompanied with some slices of ham and some salad.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!