Pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas)

Pasta and macaroni Italian cuisine

As with many of the best, home cooked favourites, there are many different ways to prepare pasta e ceci, tweaked to perfection over generations according to regional or family preferences. There are those who like it without (or with very little) tomato, those who like it stained vermillion with tomato – and of those there’s the option of fresh, concentrate, canned whole or pureed tomato. There are those that puree a portion of the chickpeas (whether it’s best a third, half or three-quarters) and those that leave this dish at its most elemental with whole chickpeas – alla romana. Then there’s the argument over whether to cook the pasta with the chickpeas, or separately, adding them once cooked, and finally, whether to use short or long pasta. So rather than a recipe, let’s say this is a suggestion of one way you could prepare this wonderful dish, as all the variations have their merits. This is a version that does not involve a soffritto (chopped carrot, celery and onion) but has just garlic, rosemary and a touch of chilli accompanying the chickpeas. Tomato – and quite a bit of it, probably a bit more than is “normal” – is added in the form of chopped canned tomatoes and about a third of the chickpeas were pureed. For me, when you have this pureed, soupy sauce that calls for eating with a spoon, short pasta is the way to go with pasta e ceci. If you like and you’re not intending on keeping this a vegetarian dish, you could also add some chopped, crisp pancetta or melt some anchovies together with the garlic. My husband cannot resist putting vongole, clams, with chickpeas. Somehow the earthy, silkiness of chickpeas with briny, sea-salty, chewy clams are a match made in heaven. Try it. I think it goes without saying that with any dish as simple as this one, the quality of your ingredients goes a long way – I cannot stress how important this is for the chickpeas and olive oil in this dish, especially. "Ditalini" (short, round tubes) are the classic short pasta for this dish, but you could also use "pasta mista" – mixed, broken up pieces of pasta – or "rombi", a lovely, frilly ribbon pasta, cut short into diamond-shapes, which is what I’ve used in the photos (those who prefer long, wide noodles to tubes or other short pasta will like these).