[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer¹ is the protagonist of Cheap Novelties, The Pleasures of Urban Decay² by Ben Katchor. The collection of black and white strips reads like a collection of short-short stories simple on the surface, yet haunting like the dripping of a faucet that prevents us from falling asleep.

Julius is out all day in a solidly urban landscape of tall buildings grouped into blocks drawn up by roads. Instead of the sun, a myriad light bulbs (lampadine) of store signs illuminates this landscape. For every person, life is a matter-of-fact succession of days.

Wandering around Katchor’s short stories, Knipl observes the most trivial and fantastical details about his city. In one strip, Knipl follows a city employee whose job is to taste the water “sampling stations” in a New York look-alike. Knipl watches him eat salted peanuts to offset the dull taste as he wanders from station to station, saying admiringly, “What a Job.” [3]

Objects are cheap (in every sense of the world). Julius Knipl advertises his business by having his name printed on pens which don’t even work, but get his name out. Cafés are prime observation spots. The food is body fuel. At about 10 am, “businessmen stop and go out for coffee.” Reflected in the glaze of a cheese Danish are a succession of stopped figures.” If Julius is late getting to the café there won’t be any cheese Danish left, so he’ll get a Linzer tart. At 10 pm, chairs on tables mean the preferred deli or café has closed for the day, so his only option is “a meat loaf plate at the National Cafeteria.”

The black and white world in which Julius Knipl moves made me want to cook something along the same color lines, yet unusual. I have a package of ceci neri (black chickpeas) from Italy (Puglia, to be precise) and decided to make a soup with them.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Black chickpea soup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup / 6 oz / 170 g dried black chickpea (ceci neri)
• 3 cups / 700 ml water
• 1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup / 240 ml chicken or vegetable broth, possibly homemade
• 1 bay leaf
• One 2-inch / 5-cm piece of kombu (optional, but recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small leek, white and light green portion
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary needles
• A pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Note: The black chickpeas I used to create and refine this recipe come from southern Italy. It is possible to purchase Italian ceci neri online. There is also a variety grown in the US.

How to prepare the chickpeas
Rinse the chickpeas and let them soak overnight in the 3 cups / 700 ml of water.

How to prepare the soup
Transfer the chickpeas and water to a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and keep the water bubbling vivaciously for 8-10 minutes, then turn down the heat.

In the meantime, warm up the olive oil in a small skillet, then add the shallot and stir well. Cook on gentle heat for several minutes, until softened, stirring often. Add the garlic, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat. Warm up the broth until it is quite hot.

With a skimmer, remove any foam that forms on the surface of the chickpeas, then add the cooked shallot and garlic, the hot broth, the bay leaf and the kombu (if using). Bring back to a boil, turn down the hear and cook, covered, until the chickpeas are tender. The skin remains rather firm. When almost ready, add salt and stir.

Half an hour or so after the chickpeas have started cooking with the aromatics, slice the leek into thin half moons, and measure 1/4 cup / 60 ml. Wash leek carefully and drain. Warm up the other amount of olive oil in a small skillet, then add the leek and rosemary and stir well. Cook on gentle heat until the leek is soft, stirring often. Take off the heat, add the pepper and stir well. Set aside.

When the chickpeas are ready, add the leeks and stir. Let cool slightly, then ladle one cup of chickpeas and broth into the immersion blender cup or similar container. Blend to a creamy consistency. Pour the cream back into the saucepan, then briefly process the soup with the immersion blender. This creates a variety of textures: some chickpeas will remain whole, others will be broken more or less coarsely and some will be reduced to a cream.

Taste and adjust salt. Serve immediately or let the soup rest to let flavors blend. Serve the soup hot with small cubes of toasted bread. (The bread in the photo is my popular version of Maltese ftira.) 

Serves 4.

This is a nourishing soup with a deep flavor. Ceci neri are tastier than their cream-colored relatives. I am wondering how good would black chickpea hummus be.

With special thanks to my friend Ame for suggesting the book.

¹ Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
² Cheap Novelties, The Pleasures of Urban Decay
³ Inside the bizarre, beautiful world of Ben Katchor’s comics

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FTC disclosure: I have received the linens free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting the product on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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This is my contribution to the 23rd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

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I am contributing my soup also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

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The bottom photo is my contribution to edition #159 of Black and White Wednesday – A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted until March 18 by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

The photo was shot in color with my iPhone and then converted to sepia (Lightroom preset Sepia Tone).

The gallery of images contributed to the event.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

zuppa di ceci neri

or launch the zuppa di ceci neri audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

soup, chickpeas, garbanzo beans, Italian cuisine

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zuppa di ceci neri

Con questi bei ceci neri che ho vengono dalla Puglia ho preparato un’ottima zuppa dal sapore sincero.

Come si vede dalla foto in basso, i ceci neri sono davvero neri e un po’ più piccoli dei ceci “normali.” Hanno anche un sapore un po’ più intenso.

Ingredienti:

• 170 g ceci neri secchi
• 700 ml acqua
• 1/2 cucchiaio / 7,5 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
• 1 spicchio d’aglio tritato
• 1 scalogno medio tritato
• 240 ml brodo di pollo o vegetale, possibilmente fatto in casa
• 1 foglio d’alloro
• un pezzo da 5 cm di alga kombu (facoltativo)
• 1/2 cucchiaino sale fino, più q.b.
• 1/2 cucchiaio / 7,5 ml olio extra vergine di olive
• 1 piccolo porro (la parte bianca e verde chiara)
• 1 cucchiaino di aghi di rosmarino tritati
• un pochino di pepe nero macinato fresco

Preparare i ceci
Sciacquare i ceci e tenerli in ammollo durante la notte in 700 ml d’acqua.

Preparare la zuppa
Versare i ceci e l’acqua in una pentola. Portare a bollore vivace su calore medio e mantenerlo per 8-10 minuti, poi abbassare il calore.

Nel frattempo, scaldare l’olio in una padellina, aggiungere lo scalogno e mescolare bene. Cuocere a fuoco dolce per alcuni minuti, fino a quando lo scalogno sia morbido, mescolando spesso. Aggiungere l’aglio, mescolare e cuocere per un paio di minuti. Togliere dal fuoco. Scaldare il brodo fino quasi a bollore.

Con una schiumarola rimuovere la schiuma che si forma sulla superficie dei ceci, poi aggiungere scalogno e aglio cotti, il brodo bollente, l’allore e il kombu (se lo si usa). Riportare a bollore, abbassare il calore e far cuocere, coperti, fino a quando i ceci non sono teneri. La buccia rimane un po’ al dente. Quando i ceci sono quasi pronti, aggiungere il sale e mescolare.

Circa mezz’ora dopo aver cominciato a cuocere i ceci con gli aromi, tagliare il porro a mezzelune fini e misurarne 60 ml. Lavare con cura e scolare. Scaldare l’altra quantità di olio in una padellina, aggiungere porro e rosmarino e mescolare bene. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando il porro sia morbido, mescolando spesso. Togliere dal fuoco, aggiungere il pepe e mescolare bene. Mettere da parte.

Quando i ceci sono cotti, aggiungere il porro alla pentola e mescolare. Far intiepidire leggermente, poi con un mestolo estrarre 250 ml di ceci e brodo di cottura, versarli in una ciotola coi bordi alti e ridurli ad una crema con un mixer ad immersione. Versare la crema di nuovo nella pentola con i ceci e poi frullare brevemente la zuppa con il mixer ad immersione. Questo processo fa si’ che alcuni ceci rimangano interi, altri saranno spezzati più o meno finemente e altri saranno ridotti ad una crema.

Assaggiare e regolare il sale. Servire immediatamente o lasciare riposare la zuppa in modo che il suo sapore maturi un po’. Servire la zuppa ben calda con cubetti di pane tostato. (Il pane nella foto e la mia popolare versione della ftira maltese.) 

Porzioni: 4.

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FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto i lini gratuitamente dall’azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentare il prodotto sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

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