Marcella Hazan’s Chick Pea Soup
This comforting and delicious soup makes for the perfect weeknight meal because you've probably got most of the ingredients in your pantry already.
Serves4 to 6
“There is a sweet depth of flavor to chick peas that distinguishes them from all other legumes. In the countries on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean they continue to be popular after more than 5,000 years of cultivation. Soup is one of the tastiest things one can do with chick peas. This one is lovely on its own, and it can be varied adding either rice or pasta. Unlike canned kidney beans, which can be mushy, canned chick peas can be very good and, if you don’t mind the slightly higher cost, you needn’t bother with soaking and cooking dried chick peas.” —Marcella Hazan
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Marcella Hazan's Chick Pea Soup Recipe
This comforting and delicious soup makes for the perfect weeknight meal because you've probably got most of the ingredients in your pantry already.
Serves 4 to 6
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 4
whole garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/3 cup
extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons
dried rosemary leaves, crushed fine almost to a powder OR a small sprig fresh rosemary
- 2/3 cup
canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
- 3/4 cup
dried chick peas, soaked and cooked, or 2 1/4 cups canned chick peas, drained
- 1 cup
homemade broth OR 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup water
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Instructions
Put the garlic and olive oil in a pot that can subsequently accommodate all the ingredients, and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the garlic cloves until they become colored a light nut brown, then remove them from the pan.
Add the crushed rosemary leaves or the fresh sprig, stir, then put in the cut-up tomatoes with their juice. Cook for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the oil floats free from the tomatoes.
Add the drained cooked or canned chick peas and cook for 5 minutes, stirring them thoroughly with the juices in the pan.
Add the broth or the dissolved bouillon cube, cover, and adjust heat so that the soup bubbles at a steady, but moderate boil for 15 minutes.
Taste and correct for salt. Add a few grindings of pepper. Let the soup bubble uncovered for another minute, then serve promptly.
Recipe Notes
Make ahead: The soup can be made in advance and refrigerated at least a week in a tightly sealed container. If making it ahead of time, do not add any salt or pepper until you reheat it just before serving.
Excerpted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Copyright © 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Excerpted by permission of Knopf. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.