Lagane e Ceci
Basilicata · pasta · serves 4 · 120 min total · easy
Roman-era dish — Horace, born in Basilicata, wrote of his mother's lagane e ceci. Pasta and chickpeas predated the unification of Italy by 2,000 years.
Ingredients
- 300 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 250 g semola
- 130 ml warm water
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 chilli red chilli
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 80 ml olive oil
- 1 medium tomato (optional)
- 1 tbsp salt
Method
- Cook soaked chickpeas in fresh water with rosemary for 75 minutes until tender. Keep water.
- Pasta: knead semolina with water and salt for 8 minutes. Rest 20 minutes. Roll thin, cut into 2 cm × 5 cm wide ribbons (lagane).
- In a wide pan, warm olive oil with sliced garlic and chilli. Add the chopped tomato, cook 5 minutes.
- Add chickpeas and a few ladles of their cooking water. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Add the lagane straight to the pan (no need to boil separately). Cook 6 minutes — they should swell in the chickpea broth.
- Off heat, drizzle with raw olive oil. Eat warm.