Pasta and chickpeas with rosemary

Pasta and chickpeas is cooked all over central and southern Italy, each family with its own version. This is the simplest: garlic, rosemary and a good oil, used twice.

Ingredients for 4

• 250 g dried chickpeas (or 600 g cooked chickpeas)
• 200 g short pasta: ditalini or maltagliati
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 peeled tomatoes (optional)
• 4 tablespoons IL CONTE Blend for the base
• IL CONTE Raggia single variety, raw
• Salt, pepper or chilli

Method

1. If using dried chickpeas, soak them in cold water for 12 hours, then boil them in fresh water for about an hour and a half until tender. Keep the cooking water.
2. In a pot gently warm the Blend with the crushed garlic and a sprig of rosemary for a couple of minutes, without browning the garlic. If you like, add the crushed tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the garlic and rosemary, add the chickpeas and a litre of their water (or hot salted water) and cook for 10 minutes. Blend a third of the chickpeas and return them to the pot: the soup becomes creamy.
4. Bring to the boil, add the pasta and cook it directly in the soup, stirring often and adding hot water if needed. Adjust the salt.
5. Serve with pepper or chilli, finely chopped rosemary needles and a generous drizzle of raw Raggia.

The right oil

The Blend is the oil for all home cooking and handles the base well; at the end the Raggia single variety, raw, adds aroma and a bitter, peppery note that suits pulses perfectly.

Photo: Rollopack, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.