Flat Pasta and Chickpeas (Lagane e Ceci)

Do you still boil old-fashioned lasagna noodles when you make lasagna? I almost always use Barilla no-boil noodles now. They are thinner than regular lasagna; I like the lighter pasta in the finished lasagna.

I wasn’t sure when I’d ever use the box of regular De Cecco lasagna in the cupboard until I came across this recipe in Arthur Schwartz’s The Southern Italian Table.

I have written the recipe exactly as I followed it; I used an immersion blender to mash some of the chickpeas before adding the cooked pasta. I think next time I would skip that step and leave the chickpeas whole.

I served this classic southern Italian dish with a very American Garlic Bread.

Flat Pasta and Chickpeas (Lagane e Ceci)

(printable recipe)

(Adapted from a recipe in The Southern Italian Table)

Serves 2 – 3, easily doubles

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1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1 (15-16 oz.) can chickpeas
4 ounces broken lasagna

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In a skillet, over low heat, cook the garlic, red pepper flakes and rosemary in the olive oil until the garlic begins to sizzle.

Add the chickpeas and all the liquid from the can. Simmer gently, uncovered, for about 5 minutes.

Cook the lasagna in a large pot with 1 tablespoon salt.

When the lasagna is almost done, use an immersion blender in the pan to blend some of the chickpeas. (Mr. Schwartz suggests you could also use a potato masher or the bottom of a tumbler.)

When the pasta is done, set aside about 1 cup of the cooking liquid, and then drain the pasta.

Add the pasta to the beans, stir to mix. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid, if it seems too dry.

Serve with extra olive oil to drizzle over the top.