Spaghetti Alla Ceci (Spaghetti With Chickpeas) - Rachael Ray

Name: Spaghetti Alla Ceci (Spaghetti With Chickpeas) - Rachael Ray
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 1 lb spaghetti; salt; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, to taste; 3 -4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 (14 ounce) can garbanzo beans or 1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme; salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 1/4 cup hot water, starchy water from the cooking pasta; 1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock or 1/2 cup dry white wine; 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes; flat leaf parsley, chopped; freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, as garnish and to pass at table

Submitted by Julesong

"On "30 Minute Meals" Rachael served this fast and easy dish up with a wonderful Warm Chopped Chicken Picatta Spinach Salad."

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Ready In:: 20mins
Ingredients:: 13
Serves:: 4

ingredients

1 lb spaghetti
salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¹⁄₂ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
3 -4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 ounce) can garbanzo beans or (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried thyme
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¹⁄₄ cup hot water, starchy water from the cooking pasta
¹⁄₂ cup unsalted chicken stock or 1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
flat leaf parsley, chopped
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, as garnish and to pass at table

directions

In a large pot, boil the water for pasta, salt it, and cook spaghetti according to package directions to al dente.
While the pasta cooks, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add extra-virgin olive oil (3 Tbsp, which she describes as "3 turns of the pan") crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic.
Drain the canned garbanzo beans, then put them in the food processor and pulse-grind them to a fine chop.
Add chopped garbanzos to the pan and season with thyme, salt, and pepper then sauté for 4 to 5 minutes.
Add starchy water from the cooking pasta and broth (or wine) and cook down for about 30 seconds, then stir in the crushed tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are heated through, then adjust seasoning to taste.
Drain pasta (do not rinse), and pour onto serving dish. Top with the sauce and toss with tongs. (Or you can add the drained pasta to the pan and toss with the sauce, then pour onto serving dish.) Top with parsley and some of the grated Parmiginao Reggiano cheese.
Serve with remaining grated Parmiginao Reggiano and enjoy!
Note: using about 1/4 cup minced shallots in this, and 1 to 2 cloves garlic (to taste), would be nice, too.
Note #2: oh my, well! To the reviewer who said the following, please remember that this is someone else's recipe and not mine and that regardless of your objections it is still delicious. At no point does it claim to be authentic. " -- pasta e ceci does not use spaghetti! you use mixed broken pasta. It doesn't ever have tomatoes in it or wine, stock or thyme! This is a traditional southern Italian dish & for us this is quite offensive! You need to use a bunch of parsley you make the sauce using tap water making it very soupy then you add the raw pasta & cook it in the sauce adding more water if needed. This will give you the starch you need to thicken the sauce & make the pasta taste of the sauce. to make it in the manner described in the recipe is like putting jam on a hotdog!" In any case, I hope folks will try the recipe and decide for themselves whether or not they like it. :).

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Reviews

Great meal, and so easy! I tried this because I happened to have the right amount of chick peas and tomatoes to use up - didn't even have to buy anything. The whole family enjoyed this, and I will definitely be making this again! I used whole wheat spaghetti, and with the chick peas, this felt like a very healthy meal. If I was rating by Taste alone, I might give 4*s, which is still a great complement and means we really liked it. But, the ease and nutrition value really bumped up the *s, in my opinion!

Dorie's Lori
pasta e ceci does not use spaghetti! you use mixed broken pasta. It doesn't ever have tomatoes in it or wine, stock or thyme!!!!! This is a traditional southern Italian dish & for us this is quite offensive!!! You need to use a bunch of parsley you make the sauce using tap water making it very soupy then you add the raw pasta & cook it in the sauce adding more water if needed. This will give you the starch you need to thicken the sauce & make the pasta taste of the sauce. to make it in the manner described in the recipe is like putting jam on a hotdog!!!

juliet louise
I cut the crushed red pepper flakes in half so my toddler could try it, so I bumped up the flavor with a little balsamic glaze. Yum! My hubby, myself, and my toddler all loved it. This would be a great basic recipe to make variations of, based on what you have on hand.

tater
was very comfort foody. I used butter beans..2 cans. only change I made. this is something that I would want if I had a cold

kaarensgarden
We really like this! It's garlicky and tomato-ey and just good!! I make it with whole wheat angel hair pasta, and I use Muir Glen crushed tomatoes with basil. I cut down on the red pepper for the kids and it still has plenty of flavor. I have a ton of chickpeas in my pantry and we have enjoyed this every week now for about a month! Thanks for such an easy and nutritious recipe!

Melissa and her Pan

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Julesong

Tukwila, 87

It's simply this: I love to cook! :) I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.

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