Chickpea and bean pasta soup is in some ways a modern interpreter of theAncestral practice of bringing to the table everything edible you can get..
We find ourselves, therefore, in the context of a poor – and often desperately poor – cuisine that for centuries has allowed the survival of the majority of Italians. That they have repeatedly made the mistake of thinking that we could live off the glories of the past, without adapting to the history that moved wealth and progress to other places.
In this case it is one recipe that originates between the 17th and 18th centuries in Liguria, and in particular in the La Spezia area. A very poor area at that time, affected by mountains that made communication with the interior difficult and which survived mainly thanks to maritime trade. Also of food products, of course, including cereals and dried legumes, of which local sailors sometimes managed to recover handfuls to take home. A mix (mix in Ligurian dialect) that the housewives of La Spezia transformed into simple but excellent soups.
Today the mix It is a typical and famous Ligurian soup, composed in various ways of legumes (chickpeas and beans of different varieties, but also broad beans and peas) mixed with spelled, barley or wheat.
The chickpea and bean pasta soup that we propose is precisely a evolution of the Ligurian mescìua, although clearly influenced by nearby Tuscany. Mescìua, in fact, is still cooked in purity today, that is, only with cereals (wheat or spelled) and legumes. Many cereals and legumes, but the only condiments are a sprig of parsley, oil and pepper.
In Tuscany instead, and especially in the bordering areas of Liguria, mixed soups of cereals and legumes are made, enriched by centuries-old osmosis with mountain agriculture. And then plain soup becomes chickpea and bean pasta soup, and pasta replaces wheat or spelled grains. and all of this enriched with various fried foods, animal fats, other vegetables (generally tomatoes, potatoes and/or black cabbage) and aromas.
What we propose is the chickpea and bean pasta soup in the most essential version. Really tasty, in fact, much tastier than one usually expects when it arrives at the table. Somehow, in fact, the plate has the disadvantage of its “pale” appearance. That is, the color “white” which, in soups, is usually combined with less tasty foods: hospitable foods, so to speak. So much so that in Tuscany the “with a little color” version clearly predominates, which is achieved by adding a generous spoonful of tomato paste. An ingredient, the tomato, which, however, did not become common on our tables until the end of the 19th century. That is, long after legume and cereal soups were eaten in Tuscany and Liguria.
Like all meshes too Chickpea and bean pasta soup should not be accompanied by cheese. If you really have to please diners who can’t give it up, casually put Grana Padano or grated sweet pecorino on the table (depending on taste).
[testi di Valter Cirillo]
- 180 g dry pasta
- 110g beans (dry weighed) soaked in water overnight
- 90g chickpeas (dry weighed) soaked in water for at least 12 hours
- 40 g bacon or bacon
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Parsley
- Pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Boil the chickpeas and beans separately. Place them in plenty of cold unsalted water, bring to a boil and let simmer for the time necessary for the two legumes to cook to perfection. Time that depends on its variety and quality: generally it takes approximately one hour, but it can take up to 2 hours in the case of beans and up to 3 in the case of chickpeas. Salt the water moderately 10 minutes before turning off the heat. When the legumes are cooked, turn off the heat and let them cool in the cooking water before removing them with a slotted spoon. Do not discard the cooking water
- Heat two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and sauté the finely chopped onion and garlic over very low heat.
- When the onion is very soft, add the bacon cut into thin slices and let it sweat gently in the sauce until it becomes translucent. Finally, add a tablespoon of chopped parsley and cook for another minute, stirring.
- Dilute the sauce with 1 liter of the cooking water of both legumes (half of the chickpeas and half of the beans) and bring to a boil. Of course, reserve a saucepan with more cooking water (also mixed), to add it while it boils if you prefer a more liquid soup.
- Pour the chickpea and bean pasta into the boiling water, bring it back to the boil and let it cook gently (not violently) for the time needed for the pasta. Serve the soup very hot, completing it with a splash of raw oil and a pinch of freshly ground pepper.