Pasta e Ceci
This is another simple pasta dish that’s filling and also has a special little something added. Pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas) can be made in so many different ways, this specific one is quite saucy, with a tomato and roasted pepper base. You can thin out the sauce for it to be soupy, or keep it as thick as you’d like it to be. The base recipe is completely vegan so I decided to use the Violife greek white block as ‘cheese’ and it paired beautifully. If you would like to use regular cheese, I’d recommend going for a goat/sheep base like pecorino or feta.
This recipe accounts for the roasting of a pepper, if you don’t want to do that, feel free to buy a jar of roasted pepper, and use the equivalent of 1 medium pepper in the recipe.
Serves: 3-4 people
prep/cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium red pepper
2 small brown onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp red wine
1 cup (240g) passata
1/2 cup (118g) vegetable stock
400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
250g orecchiette or other short pasta
2 cups (80g) fresh spinach
cheese
salt, oil
Method
1. Poke a few holes into the pepper and coat it with some oil. Place it on a foil lined baking sheet under the broiler turning it around until are sides are black. Transfer the pepper into a container with a lid and let it steam for 5 minutes, then peel off and discard the blackened skin, seeds and stem, keeping only the flesh.
2. In an oiled pot on medium-high heat, cook the onions until translucent and softened.
3. Add the garlic, oregano, and tomato paste. Cook them out, until the tomato paste goes darker and starts to stick to the bottom of the pot, deglaze with the red wine and reduce fully.
3. Add the red pepper, passata and vegetable stock into the pot and with an immersion blender, blend until everything reaches a smooth consistency. If you do not have an immersion blender, add the totality into a blender or food processor.
4. With the smooth sauce in the pot, add the chickpeas and bring it to a boil. Cover with a lid, turn the heat down to medium—low and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in boiling salted water cook the orecchiette 2 minutes under al dente.
6. When the pasta is 2 minutes under, Scoop out ½ cup of pasta cooking liquid and set aside. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, along with the spinach.
7. On medium heat, mix everything together, thinning out the sauce until your desired consistency with the reserved pasta water, until the spinach wilts and the pasta is al dente. Season with salt, and serve with a sprinkling of cheese.