Creamy Mezzanelli with Chickpeas and Sausage
When simplicity meets indulgence, it results in a superlatively delicious and easy recipe. This Neapolitan recipe has been made in my family forever and is always a success, it’s really tasty and flavorful, I highly recommend it!
In this recipe, I reveal all the secrets to achieving the creamiest and softest chickpeas
Simple, tasty, and easy recipe. This creamy pasta and chickpeas is a real winter comfort food for the cold months.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Day
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Creamy Mezzanelli with Chickpeas and Sausage
- 8.8 oz dried chickpeas
- 1 1/2 qt water
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 7 oz extra virgin olive oil
- 2 sausages (skinned)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 glass dry white wine
- to taste chili pepper (optional)
- 8.8 oz rigate mezzanelli
- to taste grated parmesan
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper (optional)
Tools
- Bowl
- Cast iron pot Le Creuset
- Immersion blender Braun, 1200 W power + electric masher
Steps for Creamy Mezzanelli with Chickpeas and Sausage
Take a pot (preferably earthenware), add the chickpeas and cover them with a quart of cold water, and place everything on the stove until it boils.
Here’s the secret to soft and creamy chickpeas: once it reaches a boil, add the baking soda to the chickpeas, turn off the heat, and leave everything covered overnight.
The next day, cook the chickpeas in the same soaking water, bring it back to a boil, and cook for about 90 minutes from the boiling point, on low heat with a lid.
Another secret to avoid hard chickpeas is: add the salt ONLY at the end of cooking.
Then, drain the chickpeas and, if you like, save the cooking water, the famous “aquafaba”, which can be useful for this and other recipes, even for making meringues.
Take an immersion blender and puree the 250 g of cooked chickpeas (using a little cooking water) and add salt.
Also take a pot with salted cold water and bring it to a boil, add the mezzanelli and cook them for half the time indicated on the package.
In the meantime, take a frying pan, add 200 ml of quality extra virgin olive oil and fry the chili pepper with the large chopped onion for about 10 minutes, deglazing with the glass of white wine (and if you want, a little more of the cooked chickpeas’ water).
At this point, add the skinned and crumbled sausage to the pan with the onion and brown it for 5 minutes, deglazing with the white wine, then add the chickpea puree and salt to this mixture (if the sauce is too thick, add more hot chickpea water). Finally, add to the pan, the al dente pasta (half-cooked) and continue cooking by risotto-ing it in the same pan, adding the chickpea water little by little to cook it to the right point and make it beautifully creamy.
Finally, add the grated parmesan and serve the dish hot.
Notes and Tips
You can also puree only half of the chickpeas with the immersion blender.
Shopping Tips
I cooked the chickpeas in my Le Creuset, for slow cooking I can no longer do without cooking with Le Creuset cast iron pots, they are expensive, but absolutely worth it, they are indestructible, retain heat perfectly and evenly across the surface, and you don’t have to worry about burning the bottom. They can be bought on Amazon, at a special price.
Alternatively, for cooking the chickpeas, you can use this more economical and excellent earthenware pot, handcrafted and can be used both on the stove, in a traditional oven and in a microwave.
To puree the chickpeas, I used the handy immersion blender from my
Braun MultiQuick 9 Minipimer, with 1200 W power and various accessories, including the handyelectric accessory, to easily mash vegetables, you can purchase it at a special price on Amazon.
Read my review for GialloZafferano on the Minipimer “Braun MQ9045 MultiQuick 9”.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How to soften dried chickpeas?
Bring them to a boil in a pot with cold water, add baking soda, and let them sit overnight. The next day, cook them in the same soaking water for 90 minutes from the boiling point, on low heat.
What is aquafaba?
It is the soaking water from canned chickpeas or from dried chickpeas that have been soaked for 24 hours and then cooked. The cooled cooking water (put it in the fridge before using it, the colder it is, the better it whips…) is what you can whip to make aquafaba, it will magically become like cream and you can use it for many vegan and egg-free desserts, like meringues and whipped cream. If you want to use aquafaba to replace eggs, calculate 3 tablespoons of aquafaba per egg.
You can also make vegan mayonnaise: just blend 100 ml of aquafaba with 250 ml of seed oil, slowly adding it in a stream, one teaspoon of lemon juice, and, if you like, one of mustard. To dig deeper, click on this article.
