Calabrian pasta and chickpeas, a typical dish of Calabrian cuisine, more widely known as lagani and chickpeas or ciciari in popular tradition. In Calabria, noodles are called lagane, thus the original name of the dish lagane e ciciari; the ciciari are obviously the chickpeas. This is a traditional dish, prepared through a certain ritual: soak the chickpeas the night before, cook them the next day with all the aromas, bay leaf, garlic, then prepare the homemade pasta, and finally finish the dish with some pork belly or guanciale and chili pepper. Tradition dictates that on particular holidays, in different Calabrian towns, pasta and chickpeas are prepared, for example on St. Joseph’s Day, a day on which, in the past, a dish of chickpea soup was distributed to the poor, a ritual that is recalled with moments of gathering in various Calabrian localities, not only on St. Joseph’s Day but also on St. Martin’s Day as it is traditional to consume this dish. A dish of poor Calabrian cuisine that has regained value in recent years, often reproposed in refined menus and prestigious restaurants, as well as on the tables of all of us Calabrians, I made it again today, and I assure you that even without making the pasta at home, but with good tagliatelle and already cooked chickpeas, you can make a delicious dish. I obviously give you instructions for both dishes. Other recipes with chickpeas.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Low Cost
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: St. Joseph's Day, St. Martin's Day
Ingredients for Calabrian Pasta and Chickpeas
- 5 oz tagliatelle
- 7 oz Canned Chickpeas
- 1.5 oz Smoked Bacon
- to taste Olive Oil
- to taste Garlic (Optional)
- to taste Fennel Seeds
- to taste Rosemary
- to taste Chili Pepper
- 1 Dried Sweet Pepper
- 0.35 cups Semolina Flour
- 0.35 cups All-purpose Flour
- 0.21 cups Lukewarm Water
- 7 oz Chickpeas
- 1 leaf Bay Leaf
- to taste Rosemary
- 1 clove Garlic
- to taste Black Peppercorns (or chili pepper)
- to taste Salt
Tools for Preparing Calabrian Pasta and Chickpeas
- Pot
Preparation of Calabrian Pasta and Chickpeas
The traditional recipe involves using dried chickpeas, so first of all, we need to prepare the boiled chickpeas. We soak them for at least 12 hours beforehand. In the morning, we drain the chickpeas, place them in a large pot, or in pottery, cover with a palm of water and bring them to the fire. Once, they were placed on a wood fire and cooked in a pignata, a tall and narrow clay pot. Add all the aromas and let them cook for a couple of hours until they are well-cooked, and we preserve them with the cooking water. If using canned chickpeas, skip this phase, but if you’re interested in cooking the chickpeas, here’s the link to the video recipe.
Meanwhile, let’s prepare the pasta, which is not egg-based, but made with semolina flour. Generally, the pasta is wider than tagliatelle, but this time I made it with tagliatelle.
So we knead the dough in a bowl, put the two flours, the water, and knead until we get a homogeneous dough ball. We work it until it is nice and elastic. Let it rest a bit before rolling it out with a rolling pin. If you want, you can also use a pasta machine, but tradition wants it to be rolled by hand. Once obtaining the dough sheet, we can cut strips with a wheel to get maltagliati, or we can prepare tagliatelle with a pasta machine or by rolling the well-floured dough and cutting it with a knife. If we prepare tagliatelle, we cut them shorter, after preparing them, with a knife, so it can be eaten with a spoon as tradition wants. If you don’t feel like preparing pasta, no problem, use egg-free tagliatelle, crushed between your hands.
At this point, we’re ready to prepare Calabrian pasta and chickpeas.
Put the pot for the pasta with some salt on the fire and bring it to a boil, once it starts boiling, cook the pasta, the pasta needs to be broken, if using dry pasta, so as to have pieces of tagliatelle, indeed maltagliati. Be careful that the pasta needs to be drained very al dente, without discarding the cooking water.While the pasta water is going, prepare the seasoning.
Sauté the smoked bacon in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil, then add the chickpeas, well-drained and rinsed if using canned ones, or with a ladle of cooking water if we prepared the boiled chickpeas or pasta cooking water. Add some fennel seeds, a bit of rosemary, and chili pepper to the chickpeas. I didn’t use garlic, but if you like it, add it at the beginning, even in its skin, and remove it before adding the pasta.
Let the chickpeas and bacon flavor for a few minutes.When the pasta is al dente, drain and transfer it into the pan with the chickpeas, lengthen with a bit more pasta cooking water and let it cook for a few more minutes, until the pasta is cooked to your liking, and by then a delicious creamy sauce will have formed enveloping the pasta and chickpeas, making it an extraordinary dish with a unique taste. Serve it hot, with a sprinkle of chili powder, or a toasted sweet pepper and a drizzle of raw olive oil, and enjoy your meal. If you want, you can blend part of the chickpeas to make the dish even creamier.
