Today, quick and delicious pasta and chickpeas in a pan. In Calabria, this dish is known as lagane and chickpeas, and it is a traditional dish of Calabrian cuisine, prepared during special occasions such as on St. Martin’s Day, but also on St. Joseph’s Day. On these special days, even the poor could satisfy their hunger with this food, receiving a bowl of this tasty soup. Over time, this tradition has given rise to folkloric festivals, accompanied by drums, where participants can enjoy pasta and chickpeas prepared traditionally, with the chickpeas cooked in a clay pot over the fire, and the pasta is strictly homemade with flour, semolina, and water, quickly cooked and mixed with the cooked chickpeas. Today, I leave you with the quick recipe to prepare an even tastier dish, but of course, I will also leave you with various references if you want to do everything at home. For the recipe, we usually use short-cut tagliatelle (called lagane in the dialect) in Calabria, or maltagliati, which resemble the Campanian lagane, but nowadays, small ready-made pasta is often used. I used my dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked in the clay pot, alternatively, they can be cooked in a pressure cooker or a regular pot. I had frozen them so I could have them ready whenever I wanted, but if you don’t have time to cook them at home, you can also use ready-made ones. Here are the details for cooking chickpeas and some recipes I love with chickpeas or chickpea flour.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: St. Joseph, St. Martin
Ingredients for Quick Pasta and Chickpeas in a Pan
- 14.1 oz pre-cooked chickpeas
- 5.6 oz fettuccine or tagliatelle (not egg-based)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 chili pepper
- 2 leaves bay leaves
- to taste wild fennel seeds
- to taste olive oil
- to taste salt
Tools
- 1 Pan
- 1 Immersion Blender
Steps for Preparing Quick Pasta and Chickpeas
Place minced garlic, chili pepper, and oil in a pan, sauté, and add the drained pre-cooked chickpeas.
Let the chickpeas flavor for a few minutes, then add about a quart of water, add 2 bay leaves, and some wild fennel seeds which add flavor and aid in legume digestion.
Bring to a boil, let it simmer for a few minutes, then add a little salt and the tomato paste.
After about 5 minutes, remove the bay leaves. Blend a little with the immersion blender, but don’t overdo it, just to create a bit of creaminess.
Break the knots of dry, non-egg tagliatelle into smaller pieces to make maltagliati, cook in the chickpea water, keeping the lid on and cooking over medium heat all the time. Finally, when the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat and let it rest for two minutes. During rest, the pasta will absorb all the cooking water and a creamy and delicious soup will form, ready to be served.
If you want to make the pasta at home, just knead 2 parts of all-purpose flour and semolina with one part of warm water. Once you have a nice elastic dough, roll it out thinly and cut into small pieces. In this case, it is preferable to boil the pasta separately for a moment.
