Chickpea and Pasta Soup
August 02, 2006
Mario Batali has a most wonderful chickpea soup recipe featuring the diverse medly of rosemary, saffron, and thyme. The only complaint I have is that the recipe seems simple enough, but I found myself having to make the tomato base separately in order to complete this soup. My recommendation is that you make the tomato sauce in advance and use it in this soup when you are ready.
I've modified this recipe to what I had in the cupboard and the veg bins, so feel free to do the same.
The Tomato Sauce:
- 1 large 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 3 tsp dry thyme, or 3 tbsp fresh thyme
- salt to taste
Step One: in a heavy sauce pot, combine the onions, garlic, olive oil, and thyme over medium heat and cook for 8-10 minutes or until onions are golden. Add carrot and cook for another 5 minutes.
Step Two: Add the tomatoes, cushing them with your hands. Simmer this over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes. This sauce is good refrigerated for 1 week.
For the Chickpea Soup, you will need:
- 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 pinches of saffron threads
- 3 c of hot water
- 1 c of white wine
- 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
- 3/4 c of tubetti pasta or similarly small pasta shapes
- All of tomato sauce, above
Step One: In a sauce pot, saute the garbanzo beans, garlic, and olive oil over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Add the white wine, rosemary, and saffron threads and cook for another 5 minutes.
Step Two: Add the tomato sauce, and 1 c of water. Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat and add the pasta shapes. Cook for designated cooking time on the pasta box and then add red pepper flakes to finish off.
The flavor of this soup is best finished off with fresh chopped basil, italian parsley, or parmesan cheese. One word of caution: be sure to remove the pot from the heat when the cooking times end because the pasta shapes will continue to cook and become bloated, ruining your soup.
Labels: garbanzo beans, pasta, soup, tomatoes
