The very interesting combination of pasta and chickpeas originally comes from Puglia, on the heel of the Italian boot. It is served drizzled with diauliciu (the Devil’s condiment), as the Chili Olive Oil is called in many parts of the Italian south. All the versions I tasted were made with fresh homemade pasta, part of which was fried, adding a lovely crisp to the dish.
You can achieve a similar effect with the dried commercial pasta (see Note).
Scroll down for the variation, based on the NYT Roman version of the Pasta with Chickpeas with rosemary and tomatoes, instead of lemon.
Serves 4
1 cup chickpeas, soaked in water overnight, or 3 cups pre-cooked, frozen chickpeas
1/2 cup olive oil
1 pound homemade fettucine, or any commercial dried pasta –linguini, spaghetti etc.
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1-3 dried pepperoncini, or good pinches Aleppo or Maras pepper, to taste
Sea salt
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth or more, as needed
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons or more freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Flat leaf parsley to sprinkle
Fruity olive Oil to drizzle
If using dried chickpeas, drain and cook in plenty of water, over low heat, for an hour or, until tender. Drain the chickpeas, but reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
If you like, and you are using homemade pasta warm the olive oil in a large heavy skillet, and fry about a quarter of the fresh pasta, until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
If you are using dried commercial pasta skip this or see Note.
In the same olive oil, sauté the garlic and chilies for less than a minute, without letting the garlic color. Add the cooked chickpeas sprinkle with salt to taste, and sauté 2 -3 minutes more. Pour in 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid, or broth, add the bay leaves, and cook for another 5 minutes or more, until chickpeas are tender, adding more broth as needed.
Stir in the lemon juice, taste and adjust the seasoning with freshly ground pepper and more lemon juice, or salt, if you like.
You can prepare the dish a few hours in advance up to this point.
About 20 minutes before serving, boil the pasta al dente, following the package instructions, drain it, and add it to the simmering chickpeas. Crumble the fried pasta, add to the skillet, toss and adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve, drizzling each plate with fruity olive oil.
NOTE: If you are using commercial dried pasta, boil a handful for 4 to 5 minutes, until it starts to soften. Drain well on paper towels and then fry it in olive oil until crisp.
VARIATION:
Pasta with Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Rosemary, and Chicory
Adapted from the NYT recipe, by Colu Henry
Sautee one coarsely chopped onion and the garlic, then add 2-3 fresh, diced tomatoes and 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary with the chickpeas; cook until tender, then add 1 cup ditalini pasta into the broth. After 5-6 minutes, add 2-3 cups coarsely shredded kale, or radicchio. Toss and cook until pasta is done.
