Today, the Light and Tasty column brings you slow-cooking recipes. I must confess that it’s a method I use sparingly, usually for time reasons, given my habit of cooking at the last minute. Also, because I instinctively associate long cooking times with meat, which as you know, is not often in my kitchen. But I have a vegetarian recipe! And it’s perfect for today’s topic: pasta with chickpeas!
I don’t know about you, but I have a certain aversion to cooking dried chickpeas. For me, it has always been the longest cooking process ever! Every time I attempt it, I tell myself, every single time, that it’s the last time, that next time I’ll decide to resurrect the pressure cooker, that next time I’ll use the AMC lid, that next time I’ll try with the magic lid, that next time it’s better if I let mom cook them…ahhh darn, mom doesn’t live here with me anymore! Ehhh yes, that was indeed a convenient cooking method!, mom two flights up handing me cooked legumes, taking this unsolvable problem off my hands! 😅
I’ve tried everything: soaking for 12 hours as per the standard rule and as written on packages, and soaking for 24 hours. I’ve tried changing brands, stores, small or large chickpeas, organic or non-organic. I’ve tested the brief boiling method with water change, and the baking soda method. And even the flour soaking trick, as one of the web’s tips suggests.
But nothing. The ‘normal’ cooking, the one with normal boiling, in a normal pot, with normal water, and normal chickpeas and herbs, always ends up taking me 3 to 4 hours! It seems a bit absurd considering that in all the recipes out there you read about times ranging from 1 to 2 hours. And I even found some claiming 45 minutes. Boh, how do their chickpeas cook so quickly?? Why doesn’t it ever happen to me??
Anyway, give or take an hour, there is no doubt that it is long-cooking 😂 so I proudly present my pasta with chickpeas, a simple recipe guaranteed to be beginner-friendly, completely sauté-free, making it super light, requiring no special effort. Just time, as much as needed.
Are you ready? Have you soaked the chickpeas last night? And do you have the afternoon free to cook them today? 🤪
👇 If you’re looking for other comforting soups and stews, here they are: 👇
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 8.8 oz dried chickpeas
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion (small)
- 1 stalk celery
- 8.5 cups water (or vegetable broth)
- parmesan cheese (1 rind)
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 7 oz mixed pasta (or other short pasta of choice)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (raw)
- pepper
Tools
- Pot
- Lid
- Food Mill
- Bowl
Steps
Soak the chickpeas for at least 12 hours (and if possible, extend the soaking a few more hours).
Change the water a couple of times during soaking.
Before cooking, drain the chickpeas from the soaking water and rinse them under running water.
Peel the carrot, clean the onion (and the celery stalk, which I didn’t use this time because I ran out, but it’s better never to be without celery 🤭).
Pour the chickpeas into a pot with plenty of water or vegetable broth.
Add the vegetables and a sprig of rosemary to the pot.
And, if you like, a parmesan rind.
Bring to a boil and let cook with the lid slightly ajar (or with a lid with a hole) until cooked (at least 2 hours) (but maybe 3, or perhaps 4 😊).
When the chickpeas are cooked, take a small part (3 or 4 tablespoons) and pass them through a food mill along with the carrot and onion (and celery if used). You can pass more chickpeas if you want a thicker broth, for a creamier pasta with chickpeas.
At this point, cook the pasta, adding it to the chickpea cooking pot.
👉 If the chickpeas’ cooking took longer than expected, you might need to add more hot water (or broth).
👉 Cooking the pasta when the chickpeas are already cooked doesn’t affect the chickpeas’ cooking. The mixed pasta I used typically has a short cooking time (only 7 minutes for the one I used).
When the pasta is cooked, portion it immediately into individual plates, leaving it somewhat brothy.
Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of pepper, and if you like, with grated parmesan cheese.
Serve the pasta with chickpeas piping hot.
It’s a fabulous comfort food on these cold December days!
Advice without salt
Dedicated to those transitioning to a low-sodium diet: soups and broths are among the few recipes that require a slightly longer adaptation period due to the presence of water. In these cases, my advice is as follows:
– Use vegetable broth instead of water for cooking (naturally homemade without salt, or with little salt, reducing it gradually each time).
– Ensure enough water or broth from the start – which the chickpeas and vegetables will flavor during the hours of cooking – to avoid any water replenishments at the end of cooking.
– Add a minced garlic and rosemary at the end of cooking, as I suggested in the recipe for this soup.
– Use vegetable broth instead of water for cooking (naturally homemade without salt, or with little salt, reducing it gradually each time).
– Ensure enough water or broth from the start – which the chickpeas and vegetables will flavor during the hours of cooking – to avoid any water replenishments at the end of cooking.
– Add a minced garlic and rosemary at the end of cooking, as I suggested in the recipe for this soup.
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▪ Decrease salt gradually, the palate must get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▪ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▪ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▪ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▪ Use pungent vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▪ Use my salt-free vegetable granule and gomasio.
▪ Prefer fresh foods.
▪ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grilling, en papillote, steaming, microwave)
▪ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▪ Occasionally break the rules. It’s good for the mood and helps persevere.
If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
▪ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
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Other Light and Tasty recipes:
Here are the other slow-cooked dishes from my Light and Tasty colleagues: 👇
Carla Emilia: Stewed Tongue
Claudia: Turkey Osso Buco with Potatoes and Peas
Daniela: Polenta Crostini with Radicchio and Walnuts
Elena: Rovato-Style Beef with Oil
Milena: Impruneta Peposo
