Lagane e Ceci
(Flat Pasta and Chickpeas)

Serves 4 or 5

Chickpeas and pasta, seasoned in various ways, is a true dish of la cucina italiana povera, the poor peasant's kitchen, but it is nowadays a fashionable retro dish, a homey evening meal for cosmopolitan people who ache to keep in touch with their rural pasts.

Lagane, a short, wide ribbon or rectangular fresh semolina-and-water pasta, is the traditional pasta used in this dish.  However, factory-made pasta with chickpeas is the norm in Italy today.  Prepared with chickpeas from a can or jar, seasoned with nothing more than garlic, either parsley or rosemary, and fragrant olive oil, it's the best kind of convenience food.

In a small saucepan, combine the garlic, oil, red pepper flakes, and rosemary.  Over low heat, let the garlic sizzle until it barely begins to brown.

Add the chickpeas with all of their liquid.  Simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Boil the pasta in at least 3 quarts of water with 1 heaping tablespoon of salt.

Just before the pasta is done, with a potato masher or the bottom of a tumbler (or more carefully with an immersion blender), mash about half the chickpeas, right in the pot.

When the pasta is done, drain well, but scoop out a cup of pasta cooking water first, in case you want to loosen the sauce.

Combine the pasta with the chickpeas in a large serving bowl.  Toss well.  Add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water if the pasta is too dry. (It should not be soupy, however.)

Serve very hot with either olio santo (see below) or condiment-quality extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle over the top.

Olio Santo

Put 3 heaping tablespoons red pepper flakes or several whole dried chilies in a small jar.  Top with 1/2 cup of warmed vegetable oil (vegetable oil, corn oil, grape seed oil - NOT olive oil).  Let stand at least one day before using.

- From The Southern Italian Table: Authentic Tastes from Traditional Kitchens
Clarkson Potter, 2009. 256p.