Pasta e ceci (Pasta and chickpeas)

okay, okay.. this is not a 10 minute recipe.. but it is well worth the effort! And if you do it the way I outline it here, it really doesn't take very long. The added advantage is that grains + legumes = complete protein, so this is a great, nutritious meatless meal.. antennas up my vegetarian and vegan friends!!

First of all, the whole process starts the night before you want to make "Pasta e Ceci".
Figure on about 70g of dried chickpeas per serving.

Weigh out your chickpeas and put them into the pot you will be using to cook them. Add enough water to so that the surface of the water is about 1 inch from the tops of the chickpeas - that sounds complicated! Just make sure the chickpeas are totally covered with water. At this point I add 1T of bicarbonate of Soda (you know.. good old Arm&Hammer) to the water. My father-in -law used to say that you would get a creamier texture this way. Cover the pot and just let it sit on your counter until morning.

Day 2 (today):

When you wake up and look in the pot, this what your chickpeas will look like, more or less.
Drain them in a colander and rinse well under running water. Rinse out the pot to get rid of any traces of baking soda and put the chickpeas back in the pot. Cover with water and cook over med/high heat until they come to a boil. DO NOT ADD SALT. As they cook, a foam will form (see next photo).
Use a skimmer to remove the foam and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about 25 minutes.
At this point, cover the chickpeas until you are ready to start fixing your meal.

25 minutes before meal time:
ok so now you are ready to actually make your "Pasta e Ceci"!
I forgot to mention, this is also a good way to use up all that pasta in your pantry in amounts that are not really enough for a meal! This is the mix I used today. They should be types with similar cooking times, other than that there is no rule, except to break up spaghetti or other long pasta. Use less pasta tthan you usually would use per serving. In our case - about 80g per person.

Here are the other ingredients:

Olive oil, 

garlic, 

parsley, 

salt & pepper to taste

Turn the burner on to med/high heat and add a nice handful of parsely leaves coarsely chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half, salt to taste. And bring your chickpeas to a boil. 

They should more or less look like this ---------> 

The ceci are also delicious just like this, seasoned with olive oil and black pepper and served with crusty hot bread!

After about 5 min, your chickpeas will look like this. As you can see they start to break up and get creamy. 

At this point, add about a cup of water and when it comes to a boil. Add your raw pasta

and stir it down. This is the hardest part because you have stir frequently and add a little water if you need it. So you have to watch the pot carefully! Use a wooden spoon to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot frequently so the creamy mixture does not stick and burn.

When the pasta is cooked to the consistency you like, add a bit of water if it is too thick for your liking. We eat ours pretty thick and hearty. Add several tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper and add salt, if need be.

Stir it all together and this is what you end up with:

This is a delicious meal on a cold winter's day. It is a complete meal so all you need is a tossed salad and some fresh fruit to finish.

and.... as Julia would have said had she spoken Italian...

Buon appetito! 

Pasta and ricotta...

....there I was sitting on the kitchen floor playing pick-up sticks with a box of whole wheat spaghetti that blended in perfectly with my hardwood floors...(sorry no photo!)
so now what was I going to do.. the whole wheat pasta idea was definitely out...I was not about to sit there and dust off each "spaghetto"* individually...

*spaghetto is the diminuitive of spago which in English would be string.... so spaghetti = lots of skinny strings
add that to your dictionary of useless trivia!

so.. back to the pasta drawer.. I have it! Dischi Volanti (that would be flying saucers) with ricotta!

Pasta and ricotta was one of my father-in-law Antonio's favorites. Quick, easy, nutritious, naturally low in dairy fat (if you use real ricotta - and not the "creamed version" that has lots of added dairy fat) and delicious!
Once I had tasted it, it quickly became part of my 10 minute pasta recipe repertoire!

So here goes...
Ingredients:

1 small onion (yellow or white strictly for aesthetics! the red onion turns kind of grayish when cooked and is not pretty with the ricotta, believe me I have tried it!)

Extra virgin Olive oil

Ricotta - I used about 1 1/4 cups for 3 servings
basil or if you are lucky enough to have some, fresh mint!
salt and pepper to taste

about 300 grams of a short round pasta (shells, wagon wheels, flying saucers if you can find them! mine are by Garofoli, the children's collection !!!!)




Procedure:
First... by now you should know! Put your pot of water on to boil!
Now.. coarsely chop the onion, sauté it in a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large non-stick or aluminium fry pan. It should be translucent and just starting to brown. You don't want it too browned or your condiment will have a bitter onion taste!

At this point your water is probably boiling, so salt it and put your pasta in to cook.
Next, add the ricotta to the onions. I put a couple of basil leaves in, but as I said before, fresh mint also gives it a nice touch - especially if you make this in the summer!

I like to use coarsely ground black pepper, so at this point add your pepper - freshly ground if you have a pepper grinder! By the way.. you can see my pasta cooking in the background? Being fast in the kitchen is all a question of orchestration!

 When your pasta is cooked the way you like it.. drain it, leaving a bit more water than you usually do!

Add the pasta to the ricotta and onion mix.

Toss well to coat all of the pasta with the ricotta mixture and I added a bit more pepper, that's up to you!

 And that's it!
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or if you like a more piquant flavor, freshly grated Pecorino or Pecorino Romano cheese...

and....

as Julia would have said, had she spoken Italian:

BUON APPETITO!

first super-easy recipe.. tweak it to your taste!

Oh so simple pasta and broccoli (my way)


this is what we had for dinner at my house today!


- put your water on to boil in a 4 qt pot, minimum

- clean your broccoli and cut the flowerettes into bite size pieces leaving a bit of stem (I guess about 1 to 2 cups of flowerettes is good for one person) 
don't throw out the stems, save the edible part for cream of broccoli soup 

- measure out your pasta (short or long pasta works good for this recipe)
we weigh it here - about 80-100 grams per serving (this is not a side dish it is a main dish)

- when the water boils, salt the water (never salt the water before boiling) and throw in the broccoli; let it boil for about 5 min, at this point add your pasta to the pot

- while your pasta and broccoli are cooking, fix the seasoning for the pasta


- in a large aluminium or non-stick fry pan, heat up a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil per serving (more or less oil, to your taste) and sautee a couple of cloves of garlic in the oil; you can add a little bit of hot pepper if you like your foods spicey
you can also add some bacon or speck, however or if you want to do it Pugliese style add a couple of anchovies broken up into pieces after you turn the heat off

- when your pasta is al dente - drain your pasta and broccoli using a colander with small holes so you don't lose the broccoli bits, save a bit of the water in case you need it.  

- add the pasta and broccoli to the fry pan with the oil, garlic and other ingredients that you have chosen to add and turn the heat to high as you toss the pasta and broccoli; the broccoli with break up and blend with the oil to coat the pasta; if it looks too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of the reserved cooking water.
 
- serve with grated pecorino or parmesan cheese

buon appetito!


sorry - no pics today! I must remember to keep the camera in the kitchen!

what's cooking in Lucca....

For years I have been toying with the idea of teaching people how to cook "Italian" - not in the most common sense of this term (i.e. learning how to make pasta, a variety of sauces, and bla bla) but in what I consider the real sense of cooking Italian (i.e. cooking like someone who lives, cooks and eats in Italy every day)

I have had some experience in teaching people how to cook and some great unsolicited publicity in the Philadelphia Daily News and on philly.com as well!

During my Cagli experience I was also mentioned in an article by Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs on NPR.com

Now I think I have reached a moment in my life where I am ready to start this adventure through blogging! I hope you will enjoy reading and making my recipes!