In our home, the chickpea sauce has become a staple with polenta, ever since one evening last year when we went to dine at our friends Lucia and Cesare’s house.
It was one of those dinners among friends, which I imagine happens to you too, where everyone brings something, one of those evenings where I-have-a-bit-of-this and you-have-a-bit-of-that, and in the end, you eat much better than expected at the beginning.
Well. That evening Lucia (yes, the Lucia) tells me over the phone that in addition, just in case there’s not enough, she also has “a bit of leftover polenta that we might fry up in a pan.” And I just say, “I have a chickpea sauce, I’ll bring that.” But truth be told, I had never tried polenta with chickpeas before and I was, I have to say, a bit hesitant that my very spicy chickpea sauce would “go well” with polenta. But that was what I had, and that’s what I brought.
Long story short, this very spicy chickpea sauce with no salt turned out to be a match made in heaven, the trump card, the ultimate dish—we understood each other—and with Lucia’s polenta, it gave its best. And if there had been twice as much polenta and chickpea sauce, we would have definitely cleaned all the plates anyway!
And so, after that evening, I’ve often remade polenta with spicy chickpea sauce since these two kids who resist vegetables at least eat legumes with gusto.
And the other day, when I made the polenta taragna with mushrooms (mushrooms! get back!!) I also made a nice pot of chickpea sauce just for them.
And of course, now I’ll give you the recipe. 🙂
I called this recipe chickpea sauce instead of polenta with chickpea sauce as the photos suggest, because I decided to make the sauce the star: a simple chickpea sauce, which I make like this with rosemary and coarse tomato sauce, and which I’ve made like this since long before discovering that we love pairing it with polenta.
If this pairing is new to you too and you’re hesitant 🙂 or if you don’t have the time or desire to cook polenta, you can use it, it seems obvious to say, but I’ll say it, to dress pasta (we like it with rigatoni, with mixed pasta, and with thick spaghetti).
Or… on certain cold, snowy, rainy, icy days… scooped up with a slice of good homemade bread, this chickpea sauce can also become a second course, one of those for dipping. With a glass of red wine on the side 🙂
(Then, for more ideas with polenta, look here: 👇)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very affordable
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 16 oz chickpeas (cooked)
- 14 oz tomato puree
- Half onion
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- chili pepper (to taste)
Tools
- Casserole with lid
Steps
For the polenta I refer you to the previous recipe.
A couple of clarifications:
– polenta taragna is currently popular at my house (until I finish the stock bought in the mountains), but you can easily use the traditional corn-only polenta
– adding butter is optional, but with taragna, for me, it’s worth adding, something I never do with yellow polenta
– taragna usually includes cheese, but for this version topped with chickpeas, I preferred just butter.
Whether you’ve decided to make polenta or pasta, now let’s move on to the preparation of the chickpea sauce, which is really simple, a basic recipe, I’d say:
Chop the onion and let it soften in a pan with oil and rosemary. The chili pepper can be added now.
Add the chickpeas (I remind you these are cooked chickpeas) (*)
Let it simmer for a few minutes and then pour in the tomato puree. If it’s too thick, possibly soften it with a bit of water (but you always add a bit of water, right? You do it too, don’t you, using a couple of fingers of water to get out all that stubborn puree left at the bottom of the bottle? 😀 )
Let it cook with the lid half closed and on low heat for about 30 minutes (even a little less, say 25).
During cooking, and depending on the consistency of the sauce, check if it’s necessary to add a few more tablespoons of water.
At the end of cooking and depending on the type of pasta (or polenta) used, you can adjust the oil if necessary.
The final consistency of the sauce should be the one you see in the photo, it should be thick.
Enjoy your meal!!
(*) The day before, I had cooked—a bag of dried chickpeas in water with celery, carrot, and onion for about 3 hours—which I then used in various ways: besides making this sauce, I used a part for a soup similar to this bean one (with the cooked vegetables blended) and the remaining ones I turned into hummus like this one. I remind you that before cooking, you need to soak the chickpeas for 24 hours (the classic overnight soak is too short for me).
Alternatively, you can use canned chickpeas, a valid alternative if you have little time to cook or if you forgot to soak the chickpeas, but if you’re following a low-sodium diet… you already know it’s preferable to avoid canned legumes 😉We like this sauce spicy, but if you can’t or don’t want to eat spicy, it’s also excellent without chili. In this case, to add flavor instead of salt, try adding other herbs, such as marjoram and thyme, and possibly a finely chopped garlic clove.
Salt-free tips
I remind you that I cook without added salt. If you don’t know it yet, I invite you to read this article of mine –> Cooking without salt, my journey. 🙂
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
– Gradually decrease salt, the palate must gradually adjust and should not notice the progressive reduction.
– Use spices. Chili, 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 tangy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
– Use my salt-free vegetable granules
– Prefer fresh foods.
– Avoid cooking in water, prefer methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave).
– Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
– Occasionally allowing yourself a break from the rule. It lifts your mood and helps you persevere.
If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
You can still try my recipes by seasoning according to your habits.
If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
You can still try my recipes by seasoning according to your habits.
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