Chickpea this out!

Who doesn't like chickpeas!?? To me they are without doubt a "superfood" in that they go well with so many other ingredients. Have 'em with squid, Moroccan dishes, lamb, chicken, beefy stews, curries, falafel, salads, soups or even just hummus. If you don't like them you're a freak...

That many people don't associate chickpeas with Italian cooking has always surprised me as they do tend to figure in some really tasty dishes. Admittedly you don't see a lot of them in Southern Italian cooking (they tend be associated with the North) yet this is a really simple dish that takes me right back to Sorrento. Pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) is a Tuscan dish but as a kid I used to get served a basic version of this at school once a week, school dinners needless to say, are far superior over there than they are over here...

Easily serves 3 (4 at a push):

1 small white onion
1 clove of garlic
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of rosemary
1/2 dry red chilli
2 tins of chickpeas (drained)
700ml of vegetable or chicken stock
150g of Ditalini pasta (any small shell like pasta will do)
1 handful of parsley
1 handful of celery heart leaves
Parmigiano Reggiano

Finely chop the onion, celery, garlic and carrot and gently fry in a little extra virgin olive oil for 10 mins making sure that they do not take on too much colour. Add the bay, rosemary and chilli and cook for a further 5 mins.

Tip in the drained chickpeas, stir well and cook for a few minutes before pouring in the stock. Cover and leave for 25-30 mins until the chickpeas are nice and tender.

At this point remove the bay and rosemary then ladle roughly half of the broth into a separate bowl.

Blitz the rest with a hand blender and return the whole chickpeas to the pan, season, add the pasta and cook to your liking (I like mine with a bit of bite).

The last thing to do is to chop your parsley and celery heart leaves (these provide a refreshing bitterness to the final dish). A good tip is to never chop your herbs too finely, you'll leave all of their delicate flavours on the chopping board...

Grate over some Parmigiano, drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and serve with torn crusty bread. Despite its basic appearance you will not believe bloody good this dish tastes! Oh and a nice glass of medium/full bodied white will go down a treat, try a white Burgundy. Sweet.

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