This humble pasta dish doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s one of the most satisfying (not to mention addicting) southern Italian comfort foods. This is truly an example of a recipe that’s greater than the sum of its parts!
While the dish can be enjoyed all year round, it is often traditionally prepared for the Festa di San Giuseppe, or St. Joseph’s Day.
A Note on Chickpeas
This recipe calls for pre-cooked chickpeas. You can cook them yourself, from dried, measuring about half the final desired weight (in this case, you would cook 200 grams of dry chickpeas to arrive at about 400 grams of cooked chickpeas).
To cook dry chickpeas, soak them in water and a small spoonful of baking soda overnight. The next day, thoroughly drain and rinse the chickpeas, then place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, partially cover the pot, and cook the chickpeas until they are soft and tender but not mushy (it can take 30 minutes to one hour, depending on the quantity).
Occasionally stir the chickpeas by gently swirling the pot. If the water reduces too much, add more warm water to keep the chickpeas covered. When cooked, salt the chickpeas to taste and turn off the heat, keeping them in the water where they were cooked and using a slotted spoon to remove them when it’s time to make the pasta sauce.
You can also use canned chickpeas. In this case, drain the chickpeas (note that the weight listed below is for drained chickpeas) and use warm water as a substitute for the chickpea cooking water used below, as the canning liquid is usually too thick and salty for the sauce.
Watch the Pasta Grammar video:
PASTA CON CECI E CIME DI RAPA RECIPE
Makes: 3 to 4 servings
Cook Time: 30 minutes
For this recipe, you will need:
Salt
3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for topping
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 dry chili pepper, chopped (optional)
14 ounces (400 g) cooked chickpeas (see above)
¼ cup (60 ml) tomato puree
7 ounces (200 g) candele pasta
10.5 ounces (300 g) broccoli rabe
Put a large pot of water on to boil and salt it generously. While the water comes up to temperature, heat the olive oil, garlic and chili pepper in a large pan over medium heat.
When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the chickpeas and just enough of the chickpea cooking water to cover the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomato puree, remove and discard the garlic clove, and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. Salt the sauce to taste.
Let the sauce cook over low heat while you boil the broccoli rabe, adding a little bit of hot water from the pot as needed if the liquid in the pan evaporates.
Place the broccoli rabe in the boiling water. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the thickest parts of the stem are tender. Remove the broccoli rabe with tongs or a slotted ladle and add into the pan with the chickpea sauce. Keep the pot of water boiling, you’ll use it to cook the pasta.
Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut the broccoli rabe directly in the pan into bite-size pieces. Let the sauce continue to simmer while you cook the pasta. Ladle a little more hot water from the pot into the pan as needed to maintain a simmer.
Break the candele pasta into pieces, about 4 inches (10 cm) long. Do so over a kitchen towel so that you don’t lose any small pieces that might break off. Using the towel, pour the broken pasta into the pot of water and cook for 3 minutes less than the recommended “al dente” cook time as written on the pasta package.
Reserve a large cup of pasta water, then drain the cooked pasta through a colander and return it to the pot. Add the chickpea sauce into the pasta and stir all together over medium/high heat. Add enough reserved pasta water to retain some moisture in the pot so that the pasta can continue to cook.
When the pasta is al dente to your taste and the broccoli rabe has largely dissolved into a creamy sauce, turn up the heat to high and keep stirring until the excess moisture has thickened. Serve immediately, topped with a drizzle of olive oil.
Buon appetito!