Chickpea and tria pasta

The revelation of this sauce is in blending half of the chickpeas into a cream and adding it to the broth. The final act is the fried tria pasta that is sprinkled as a garnish on top. You don’t need to finish with a smattering of cheese when there’s a satisfying texture crunch such as this. Recipe adapted from Matilde Guido.

Ingredients

• 300 g fresh tria pasta (recipe here) or other fresh ribbon pasta
• 300 g chickpeas
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 small whole red chillies
• 1 sprig rosemary,  leaves chopped
• ½ tsp salt  
• ½ cup approx., oil for frying, like sunflower oil

Instructions

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook 250 g of the tria pasta for 5 minutes or until just al dente. Drain, but reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.
2. Place half of the chickpeas in a small food processor or blender. Pour in a large dash of water and process until smooth.
3. In a large pan, heat the oil and cook the garlic whole along with the chillies and rosemary leaves until lightly golden but not brown. Remove the garlic, then add the remaining chickpeas. Cook for several minutes.
4. Scoop the blended chickpea cream into the pan, along with the reserved pasta water. Sprinkle in the salt and add the cooked pasta. Simmer for a few minutes, then remove from the heat.
5. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the remaining 50 g of fresh tria pasta and fry at a high heat for approximately 1-2 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Remove and drain well on absorbent paper.
6. To serve, plate up the pasta and garnish with the fried tria.

Recipe and images from A Vegan Summer in Southern Italy by Nadia Fragnito

The revelation of this sauce is in blending half of the chickpeas into a cream and adding it to the broth. The final act is the fried tria pasta that is sprinkled as a garnish on top. You don’t need to finish with a smattering of cheese when there’s a satisfying texture crunch such as this. Recipe adapted from Matilde Guido.