This Pasta with Chickpeas (Pasta e Ceci) recipe is a real budget friendly family dinner recipe, and is adapted from Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver.

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To make this recipe even more economical, you can use dried chickpeas instead of tinned. Soak them overnight, then cook for 2 hours, or until they’re tender but not too soft.

This recipe serves 4

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 2 x 400 g tins of chickpeas
• 550 ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 100 g ditalini or macaroni
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Small handful of chopped fresh basil or parsley, to serve
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve
• Crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Heat some olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, celery, garlic and rosemary and cook as gently as possible, with the lid on, for 15 to 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft, without any color. (Tip: Adding a pinch of salt to the vegetables when you start to cook them will help to prevent them from browning.)
2. Drain the chickpeas well and rinse them in cold water, then add them to the pan and cover with the stock. Cook gently for 30 minutes.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove half the chickpeas and put them to one side in a bowl.
4. Puree the soup in the pan using a handheld immersion blender. (If you don’t have one, you can whiz it up in a food processor or blender instead, then pour it back into the pan.)
5. Add the reserved whole chickpeas and the pasta, season the soup with salt and pepper, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender and the pasta is cooked.
6. If the soup is a little thick, pour in some boiling water from the kettle to thin it down and add more salt and pepper if needed.
7. Serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with some basil or parsley and Parmesan cheese. Serve some warm crusty bread alongside.

You can find these recipes and more family favourites on www.dinnerdujour.org.

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