Tuscan Chickpea Soup
The Tuscan peasant recipe in which whole garlic cloves, rosemary and good olive oil turn a handful of humble ingredients into a soup of surprising depth.
The technique that makes it is the split texture: three quarters of the chickpeas are puréed and a quarter stays whole. That is what gives a soup that is creamy and still has something to bite.
And the garlic is used twice, and thrown away both times. It goes in whole to perfume the cooking water, gets discarded, and then a second pair perfumes the oil and is discarded again. It is a flavoring, never an ingredient you eat — which is why it stays whole and merely bruised.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (180 g) dried chickpeas, soaked 12 hours
- 2 l cold water (8 cups)
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed, kept whole
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil (1/4 cup)
- 60 ml concentrated tomato paste (1/4 cup)
- 250 ml beef stock (1 cup)
- 250 g short dried soup pasta
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
- 1
Drain the soaked chickpeas and put them in a medium pot with the 2 liters of water. Add 2 garlic cloves and 1 sprig of rosemary. Cover partially and simmer gently until tender.
- 2
Drain the chickpeas, keeping the cooking water. Discard the garlic and rosemary used at this stage — they have done their work.
- 3
Texture: with a stick blender, purée three quarters of the chickpeas with a little of the cooking liquid. Leave the rest whole. This split is what makes the soup.
- 4
Infusing the oil: in a clean pot over low heat, cook the other 2 garlic cloves and the remaining rosemary sprig in 3 tablespoons of olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Once the garlic is soft and fragrant, discard it too.
- 5
Add the tomato paste to the now-aromatic oil and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
- 6
Add the chickpea purée, the whole chickpeas and the reserved cooking water. Bring to a boil. If it is too dense, loosen it with the beef stock.
- 7
Add the short pasta and cook for about 5 minutes, or as the packet says, until al dente. Season.
- 8
Before serving, remove the rosemary sprig. Finish with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, serve in warmed bowls and eat it very hot.
Flavors of the Mediterranean: From Our Table to Yours
If one kitchen invites you to sit down at a long table and stay there, it is the Mediterranean. This is our personal selection of dishes that celebrate freshness, sun and good produce: recipes that smell of basil, lemon and sea. Technique in the service of simplicity — and dishes that come out right every time.
