The cold has arrived, and I could live on soups during this period. Yesterday I enjoyed this chickling pea soup, a simple simple soup, made with chickling peas I bought in Umbria, when I visited my friend Luisa, with the simple addition of classic herbs and a sprig of rosemary.
And it was enough for me to complete each dish with some croutons, which I always really like in soups, to get a tasty and comforting dish, as only soups can be on these cold and rainy days.
The chickling pea is an ancient and humble legume, similar to fava beans and chickpeas, in a way it’s a mix of chickpeas, fava beans, and peas.
As with all legumes, the chickling pea must be soaked before cooking, and it is advisable to change the water at least a couple of times during soaking to eliminate the risk of toxicity.
Every legume has its own form of toxicity, remember when we talked about phytic acid in this article? Well, in the case of chickling peas, the toxicity is due to a neurotoxin. But don’t worry, the disorders it caused in the past were due to prolonged consumption over time and poor and incomplete diets (during periods of famine). Nowadays chickling peas not only do not cause problems but are a highly protein and very nutritious legume, absolutely recommended in a varied diet. Never fall into monotonous diets!
Depending on the variety of chickling peas, soaking can be more or less lengthy (some suggest 24 hours, others only 8), even for cooking I’ve seen that times given can vary: I did the classic soaking overnight (that is, from after dinner in the evening to after breakfast the next morning, so in the end about 12 hours), changing the water twice, then I cooked it for an hour or a little more.
And look what a beautiful soup! 🤩
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 1.1 lbs dried chickling peas
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 carrots
- 2 onions (small)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- rosemary
- bread (for the croutons)
Tools
- Pot
- Casserole
- Ladle slotted
- Toaster
Steps
After soaking, drain the chickling peas and rinse them with running water.
Cook them in plenty of water with one onion, one carrot, and one celery stalk (for just over an hour).
Once cooked, make a mince with the remaining onion, carrot, and celery and the needles of a small sprig of rosemary, and sauté the mixture in a little oil.
When the mince is wilted, add the chickling pea, brothy, that is, taking it with a slotted spoon but without draining too much cooking water, and let it flavor for about ten minutes on low heat.
As with all legume soups, to make the soup thicker you can blend or pass through a food mill a small portion of chickling peas and the vegetables used in cooking. I liked it hearty, but you can adjust the thickness of the soup by using more or less cooking broth, or by varying the amount of vegetables.
Before serving, toast sliced or diced bread not too small (I used a baguette) and rub the obtained croutons with garlic.
Serve the chickling pea soup accompanied by croutons, or mini-bruschettas, adding a drizzle of raw olive oil to each dish.
Enjoy your meal! 😀
Salt-Free Tips
Besides the pleasant addition of garlic croutons, here are other suggestions to flavor this soup: a couple of teaspoons of grated Parmesan, addition of chili pepper, other aromatic herbs like sage, thyme, and marjoram, or spices, for example, a pinch of turmeric.
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Reduce salt gradually, the palate must gradually get used to it and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, etc.
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint, etc.
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, etc.
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange, etc.
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granule and gomasio.
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Sometimes allow yourself a break from the rule. It is good for the mood and helps to persevere.
If you do not want to, or cannot, give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes, salting according to your habits.
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