Chickpeasy

Many of us have had enough holiday treats for awhile, enough sweets, and rich, special foods, and enough fuss. Perhaps, for the time being, we would rather lie around reading on the sofa, after getting home from work, instead of getting involved with anything elaborate in the kitchen. Yet regardless of mood, we will periodically get hungry. And if even we (where did this first person plural thing start, oi?)..and even if I don't want fancy leftovers from the freezer, I don't want something nasty either.

This dish, from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers, could not be easier to make or eat. It is savory but simple, takes only a few minutes to make, and dirties only one pot. If you want, you can eat it with a big spoon from a bowl balanced on your stomach, while you lie on the sofa with your book, a glass of something nice on the coffee table. If you are feeling more like a proper dinner, you can always have it at the table, with a sharply dressed salad and an orange for dessert. You will not be fussed, nor will we, nor will I , except perhaps by inexplicable wandering pronouns.

whole wheat pasta shapes 12 oz
onion diced 1 small
olive oil
red pepper flakes
parsley leaves, stems removed 2 handsfull, chopped
garlic cloves 3
fresh sage leaves small handful
salt and pepper
freshly grated parmesan
canned chickpeas 15 oz can (or 1 1/2 cups soaked and cooked dried cpeas)

Heat some olive oil in a skillet, and put some water to boil in a pasta pot.
To the skillet, add the onion and some pepper flakes to your own taste. Cook a few minutes, add drained chickpeas. (Save liquid). Chop garlic and sage, and mix with the parsley. Add 1/3 of this into skillet, with a little of the liquid, and cook stirring, adding more liquid as it cooks away. Add salt and pepper-taking it easy with the salt- the canned beans are salty. If you have some blanced bitter greens in the fridge (I often do, but didn't this time) you could chop them up and stir them in to your great advantage. I might leave out the sage if I did that. A few chopped olives never hurt anyone either.

Salt pasta water. Cook pasta. Drain and toss into skillet. Mix it all up, with the additon of the rest of the herb mix. Drizzle on a bit more olive oil, and a pinch more red pepper. Scoop what you want to eat into your bowl(s), and put the rest aside. (This is enough to serve 3-4.) Sprinkle the parmesan over your portion(s).

When you've had enough, you can toss the uncheesed remainder with some sherry vinegar, put it in a bag, and take it to work for lunch the next day, to have as a little room temperature salad with a bowl of soup, or piece of fruit. I am not usually partial to pasta salads, but I like this one-especially if the pasta shapes have holes in them for the chickpeas to creep into.

BTW, the whole wheat pasta is, in my view, necessary to give this supper its character. I have tried it with regular pasta when I didn't have any whole wheat shapes, and it was a little dull.

Comments

[kalyn]

Sounds good. It's nice to see a recipe for whole wheat pasta.

[Luisa]

Mm, this sounds great. I'm having a bit of a love affair with sage right now, and I've also switched almost entirely to WW pasta.

[michele]

Hi Lindy, the pasta looks great and very comforting! As an aside, I just wanted to let you know that I emailed you back on the 2nd of Jan and again this morning. Let me know if you aren't getting my emails! Perhaps they are being rejected as spam?

[lindy]

Michele-Got your 2nd email tonight and replied. I think my spam filter must have been over-aggressive on the 2nd!

[eg]

I adore chickpeas! Thank you so much for the yummy-sounding recipe. (I loathe whole wheat pasta but am willing to give it another go for this.)

I will pick up some sage and pasta this weekend. This will give me a good opportunity to use up more of the parmesan I bought before it gets furry and weird.

[eg]

Well, I must have done something wrong. Some parts were pretty good but not in any way that I could identify so as to correct the parts that weren't so good. Although ... I am pretty sure that there was not enough salt. I got nervous about adding salt since there was some in the pasta water and some on the onions so I think I wimped out. BUT the pasta itself did not taste like cardboard, so I consider this to be a rousing success.

The real disappointment was that I forget to do something with the rhubarb I had bought and so dessert was not had.

Anyway ... thanks!

[lindy]

Hey.eg. sorry you didn't like it-especially as you thought the pasta was okay. It is quite a plain dish, so I can see it might not be very exciting.

[eg]

Well, some bites were quite exciting. (Okay, maybe just really good.) I made a half recipe and probably needed two cloves of garlic, not one big one, and more salt and pepper (hot and regular).

Really, anything with chickpeas has a leg up on the competition. My mother thinks I have a problem. I figure as long as my addiction doesn't hurt anyone else....

Thanks!