recipe: zuppa di ceci neri / black chickpea soup

March 14, 2015 | Simona

Black chickpea soup

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 15 minutes + soak time

Cook Time: 1 hour+

Keywords: blender boil soup/stew gluten-free low-carb sugar-free chickpeas Italian

Ingredients (Serves 4)

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

Instructions

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 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.

Go to the full post on zuppa di ceci neri / black chickpea soup

ceci al pomodoro per FBAH / chickpeas with tomatoes for FBAH

April 8, 2013November 28, 2025 | Simona

“Nearly one in five children in America lives in households that struggle to put food on the table” (source).

This is not a statistics I just learned. I have been sensitive to the problem of food insecurity in this country for quite some time. The Alameda County Community Food Bank and Food for People are two organizations close to my heart and so is Share Our Strength.

The recent documentary A Place at the Table from Participant Media—the same studio that brought us Food Inc.—follows three families struggling with food insecurity, and sheds light on the problem of hunger in America. I believe hunger is a problem that can be solved and education and awareness are good first steps to solve it. I plan to watch the documentary soon (click here to watch the trailer). In the meantime, I have let my representatives in Congress know that I support protection of federal programs that aim to provide food to children and I hope you will do that as well.

For my participation to Food Bloggers Against Hunger, a day dedicated to raising awareness about food insecurity, I would like to mention two programs I am familiar with created by Food for the People: Plant a Row for the Hungry and Backpack for Kids. The former allows gardeners to share the bounty of their harvest who then get access to fresh produce, while the the latter ensures that children have nutritious food during the weekend, when they are not in school.

I am extremely lucky that in my life I have never suffered from food insecurity. However, I don’t take food for granted. Both my parents experienced the food insecurity caused by WWII, so they instilled in me a deep respect for food in its entire life-cycle, from growing it to making sure that none of it is wasted.

chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots

The event organizer asked us to share a budget friendly recipe “featuring reliable pantry staples and ingredients that are accessible in most supermarkets.” My contribution is a recipe from my archive that is flavorful, nutritious, and inexpensive: chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots (ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche).

There is a story behind this recipe, which makes it particularly dear to me: you can read it in the original post. For my most recent rendition of the recipe I used dried chickpeas rather than canned ones.

Ingredients, using organic (bio¹) wherever possible (see note after the recipe):

1 cup / 6 oz. / 170 g dried chickpeas (see below for how to cook them) OR two 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a cup of diced dried and unsulphured apricots
one large onion (about 1/2 lb / 225 g), chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cumin from seeds toasted in a dry skillet until they smell aromatic
1 teaspoon of dried oregano (origano)
1 14.5 oz. can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes OR fire-roasted diced tomatoes with their juice OR diced tomatoes with their juice
3 garlic cloves, minced

How to cook chickpeas
Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a saucepan, cover with 2 quarts of fresh water, and boil for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface, then lower the heat. Add 1 onion, quartered, 2 sprigs of parsley and 4 garlic cloves. Optionally, add a 5-6 inch piece of kombu. Simmer, partly covered, until the chickpeas are almost tender, about 45 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons salt, and continue cooking until the chickpeas are completely tender but not mushy. Strain, reserving the broth for soups. (Source: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison)

How to prepare the dish
Place diced dried apricots in a small bowl and cover them with hot water.

Spray a large skillet or sauté pan with olive oil and warm over medium heat. Add the onion and cook in the warmed pan over low heat with cumin. Rub oregano with your fingers on the palm of your hand then add to the pan. After about 15 minutes, when the onion is translucent, add chickpeas, tomatoes and apricots, drained. If using crushed tomatoes, rinse empty can with 1/4 cup / 60 ml of water and pout that into the pan.

Raise the heat until the mixture starts bubbling, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, covered. Add garlic, cook another 5 minutes, uncovered, then turn off the heat, cover and keep warm until you are ready to serve the dish, the sooner the better.

I like to serve this with a side of polenta, though in my most recent rendition (shown below), I served it with a side of mixed greens (rainbow chard, kale and collard greens).

chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots

I am afraid I have no great photos, but trust me, this recipe is great.

Here are the prices for the main ingredients:

organic dried chickpeas: $1.09
organic diced tomatoes: $1.19
organic onion: $0.70
organic dried apricots: $1.06

The total is $4.04. I realize this does not include the cost of the spices and of the aromatics to cook the chickpeas. However, the dish serves more than one person or one person for more than one meal. One thing the price-conscious buyer does is keep an eye on sales. For example, the organic tomatoes I used were on sale when I checked the price, so I bought an extra can.

Please, take the time to visit other blogs participating in this initiative. They are listed on the Food Bloggers Against Hunger page on The Giving Table site. A great thank you! to Nicole for organizing this event. If each of us does something, together we can do a lot towards solving the problem of food insecurity.

¹ Short for: da agricoltura biologica (organically grown).

This is also my contribution to MLLA #58, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa’s Kitchen, and hosted this month by Claire of Chez Cayenne.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche

or launch the ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche 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.]

chickpeas, garbanzo beans, apricots, tomatoes

hummus ai carciofi / artichoke hummus

March 29, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

This is a spread I had had in mind to make for a while. I saw it somewhere on the web, but I can't remember where: I only remember that it was a hummus made also with artichokes.

I like artichokes a lot. My mother made them often, when they were in season: artichoke frittata and carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style) were often on the table. The important ingredient in the latter is mentuccia, a type of mint that grows wild. According to my mother, there was no substitute for it, so we went out looking for it in a place where she knew it grew.

When I moved to Milan, I learned to appreciate risotto coi carciofi and raw artichokes, sliced thinly and added to salads. Artichokes are grown extensively in California, but I have never found an artichoke that would be comparable to the ones I ate in Italy. After many attempts, and many disappointments, I am currently taking a break. So, to make this recipe, I resorted to canned artichoke hearts (cuori di carciofo). I like that they are preserved in just water and salt¹. As for the chickpeas (ceci), I cooked them from scratch. In the absence of mentuccia, I picked some orange mint from the pot where I planted it last year. I really like its citrusy notes.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Artichocke hummus

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry chickpeas, cooked as explained here, skinned (optional, but nice), and drained [check the chickpeas half an hour after the simmering started to estimate how much longer they need to cook]
1/2 can artichoke hearts [preserved in water and salt] (4 and a half, 4.25 oz. dry weight), drained
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (cumino) from freshly toasted seeds [you may need to increase this a bit, if your cumin is not strongly flavored]
a garlic clove (spicchio d'aglio)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
a few leaves of fresh orange mint (Menta piperita citrata) [I used the tips of two twigs; given the intense flavor of this herb, it is better to start with a small amount and add more if necessary]
chickpea broth, as needed
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
chopped dry roasted and salted hazelnuts (nocciole) as topping, to taste

Place in the food processor the first 7 ingredients above and process until smooth. Add some of the chickpea broth as needed to make the hummus reach the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper and possibly the other flavorings to your taste. Place in a covered container and refrigerate until close to serving time. Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle some hazelnuts on the surface. Serve with bread of your choice and with additional hazelnuts. (Note that the recipe makes quite a bit more of what you see in the photo above.)

The spread has a delicate flavor and you can taste all the ingredients, which is very nice. Originally, I had not included the hazelnut topping, but the spread lacked a little something, so I decided to put on the table a small bowl of finelly chopped toasted and salted hazelnuts. With that, the hummus was perfect. We enjoyed it spread over slices of my homemade challah.

The post allows me to show you my first 6-strand challah, of which I am very proud (I usually make a 5-braid challah). As mentioned before, the recipe comes from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day, which I follow fairly closely. Reinhart suggests a mix of sesame seeds and poppy seeds (semi di sesamo e semi di papavero) as topping and as you can see, the result is very nice (By the way, the poppy seeds come from the poppies that grow in my garden.)

This is my contribution to this month's edition of Healing Foods. The event is organized by Siri of Cooking with Siri and the current edition is hosted by Vanessa of Sweet Artichoke, who chose the theme. This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also sending this post to Tin Can Recipes, a monthly event that will run until the end of this year. The organizers are Ale, Fra, Sere and Paola of Il Giardino degli Aromi and Brii of Briggis recept och ideer and Briiblog in English. The rules for participating are detailed on this page. This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

hummus ai carciofi

or launch the hummus ai carciofi 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.]

¹ The can of artichoke hearts in the photo is for information only: it is not an advertisement. I do not have a business relationship with the product's company.

[jump to Comments]

hummus ai carciofi

L'hummus è una crema di ceci tipica del Medio Oriente. Questa è una variante nella quale ai ceci ho unito i carciofi. L'idea di usare i carciofi non è mia originale: tempo fa lessi da qualche parte il titolo della ricetta "hummus ai carciofi," ma non mi ricordo dove e non mi ricordo i dettagli. Quindi, quando ho deciso di realizzare l'idea, ho messo insieme gli ingredienti basandomi su esperienze precedenti con l'hummus preparato solo con i ceci.

Ingredienti:

100 g circa di ceci secchi, cotti come spiegato qui (controllate i ceci dopo mezz'ora dall'inizio della cottura con gli odori per stimare quanto tempo manca) o come fate di solito, poi scolati
4,5 cuori di carciofo, conservati in acqua, scolati (peso secco 120 g)
1/2 cucchiaino (2,5 ml) di cumino in polvere (consiglio di tostare i semi a macinarli freschi: il sapore è molto più intenso)
uno spicchio d'aglio
1 cucchiaio (15 ml) di olio d'oliva
2 cucchiai (30 ml) di succo di limone Meyer fresco [alternativamente potete usare un cucchiaio di succo di limone e uno di succo d'arancio oppure un cucchiaio e mezzo di succo di limone]
alcune foglioline di Menta piperita citrata fresca [dato il sapore intenso della menta, consiglio di usare una piccola quantità e aggiungerne se necessario]
un po' di brodo di cottura dei ceci
sale e pepe macinato fresco, a seconda dei vostri gusti
nocciole tostate a secco e salate e sbriciolate distribuite sulla superficie

Frullare i primi 7 ingredienti fino ad ottenere una crema morbida. Se necessario, aggiungere un po' del brodo di cottura dei ceci per ottenere la consistenza desiderata. Correggere sale, pepe a seconda dei propri gusti e, se necessario, le altre spezie. Mettere l'hummus in un contenitore coperto e porre in frigo fino a poco prima di servirlo. Mettere un po' di hummus in un ciotola da servizio e distribuire sulla superficie le nocciole. Servire insieme ad un piattino con altre nocciole. (La ricetta produce molto più hummus di quello che si vede nella foto in alto.)

Questo hummus ha un sapore delicato che lascia spazio a tutti gli ingredienti. Noi lo abbiamo mangiato spalmato su fettine di challah fatto in casa. Challah è un pane tradizionale ebraico fatto con uova e olio, a forma di treccia semplice oppure complessa, la cui superficie è spennellata d'uovo e quindi ha un bel colore dorato intenso. La ricetta che uso io viene dal libro di Peter Reinhart Artisan Breads Every Day. Per l'occasione ho fatto una treccia a sei capi (di solito la faccio a 5 capi) e devo dire che sono contenta del risultato. Per la decorazione, Reinhart suggerisce un misto di semi di sesamo e di papavero e io uso i semi che ho raccolto dai papaveri del mio giardino.

Con questo post contribuisco all'evento Healing Foods. organizzato da Siri di Cooking with Siri e la cui edizione corrente è ospitata da Vanessa di Sweet Artichoke, la quale ha scelto il tema: carciofi. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

Contribuisco anche all'evento Tin Can Recipes dedicato alla celebrazione dei 200 anni del cibo in scatola. L'organizzazione dell'evento è di Ale, Fra, Sere e Paola del blog Il Giardino degli Aromi e di Brii che scrive Briggis recept och ideer e Briiblog in English. Le regole per partecipare le trovate su questa pagina. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

¹ La scatola di cuori di carciofo nella foto è solo a titolo informativo; non è una pubblicità. Non ho alcun rapporto commerciale con l'azienda produttrice.

ceci con picada catalana / chickpeas with Catalan picada

March 9, 2011 | Simona

As a child, I was a chickpea-hater. My epiphany occurred after I moved to California, at a potluck and was brought about by an Indian chickpea dish. Something made me try it even though I had always disliked chickpeas and my taste buds (papille gustative) converted on the spot.

Making hummus and this dish helped me to get comfortable with preparing chickpeas. As in the case of beans, I weaned myself off cans. In the evening, I put the chickpeas into their soaking bath and the following day I cook them according to this recipe by Deborah Madison. I use the optional kombu, which I am able to find locally harvested. I check the chickpeas half an hour after the simmering started to estimate how much longer they need to cook. Also, I don't salt them until I use them in a dish. Once done, I let the chickpeas cool in the pan. If I don't use them right away, once cooled, I remove the aromatics and pour the contents of the pan into a container that I then refrigerate until needed.

Please, read Madison's recipe until the last sentence, which states: "Strain, reserving the delicious broth for soup stock." That is what I do, because the broth is indeed quite delicious. Also, remember that, whatever your preferred method, you can cook more legumes than you need and freeze the extra, so that they are like canned ones: ready to be used.

Every time I make pollo con picada catalana (chicken with Catalan picada), I end up with some leftover sauce, which I have used in various settings: over polenta, with eggs, with beans (fagioli), and most recently with ceci (chickpeas).

I never thought about removing the skin from chickpeas until I read this post from Ivy of Kopiaste. The last few times I made chickpeas, I removed a lot of the skins, which was actually easy as they separated from the beans on their own accord, so I simply retrieved them from the broth. I drained the cooled chickpeas (reserving the broth for future use, as explained above), and added some picada sauce, then warmed up in the microwave and finally tossed well. The sauce is intensely flavored, so a little goes a long way. I like to serve these ceci with some polenta, or accompany them with some of my homemade bread and cheese.

I presented a dish made with chickpeas, dried apricots and tomatoes for the very first edition of My Legume Love Affair, three years ago. The current recipe is a way of creatively using leftovers. However, it supports the fact that the combination of chickpeas and tomatoes is great. The chickpeas I have been cooking recently come from the bag I got as part of the package from Hurst Beans I won a few months ago in the MLLA monthly drawing¹. Thank you!

This is my submission for My Legume Love Affair 33, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen.

This post has the roundup of the event.

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

ceci con picada catalana

or launch the ceci con picada catalana 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.]

¹ This is not an advertisement. I do not have any business relationship with the company referenced.

ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche / chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots

February 6, 2008 | Simona

As a child I disliked legumi (legumes) profoundly. Fortunately, my mother would not cook them often: fagioli (beans), piselli (peas), lenticchie (lentils), ceci (chickpeas) were all blacklisted. Then, one day, some time after I moved to California, something happened. I convinced myself to try an Indian chickpea dish at a party and thought: why has nobody ever offered me anything so flavorful before? That was the beginning of a far-reaching rethinking of my position with respect to legumes. As a result, now I love them.

Although my favorite legumes are lenticchie (lentils), probably because they were the least disliked legumes of my early days, here I am proposing a dish with ceci (chickpeas). In case you are wondering, the word cece comes from the Latin cicer.

Three years ago my husband and I visited beautiful New Zealand. One day we kayaked in the Kenepuru Sound. It was a memorable day, because, while kayaking, I saw my first blue penguin (the photo shown here was taken a few days later at another location). At the end of the tour, we spent a short time in the Portage Resort Hotel waiting for our guide. I leafed idly through a coffee table book about New Zealand that had some recipes. One of them caught my attention, so I started to jot down notes, but had to run away before completing the transcription. As a result, I am unable to give proper credit for the original recipe: if anybody has any information that could be helpful, please let me know. I am not even sure that my version is based on the complete original, since my notes, written on a scrap of paper, were almost unintelligible by the time I went over them at the end of the day. Somehow, though, my variation on the unfinished theme works as a dish, at least in my opinion.

I will describe the recipe using ceci in scatola (canned chickpeas), but it goes without saying that it can be made with chickpeas that you have previously soaked and then simmered until soft (more detailed instructions can be read here). I use organic ingredients as much as possible. Place a cup of diced dried apricots in a small bowl and cover them with hot water. In my most recent rendition I used a mix of albicocche secche (dried apricots) and dried apriums (on the left in the photo). I bought the latter at a farmers’ market in Oakland. An aprium is an apricot and plum hybrid.

Spray a rather large pan with olive oil and warm over medium heat. Dice one big onion (cipolla) or two small ones and cook in the warmed pan over low heat with 1.5 teaspoons of ground cumin (cumino) and 1 teaspoon of dried origano (oregano). After about 15 minutes, when the onion is translucent, add two 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, one 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes with their juice and the diced apricots, drained. Raise the heat until the mixture starts bubbling, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, covered. Add tre spicchi d’aglio (three cloves of garlic), minced, cook another five minutes, uncovered, then turn off the heat, cover and keep warm until you are ready to serve the dish, the sooner the better.

I usually serve these ceci with a side of polenta, so my Italian heritage is still present. My current favorite variation of polenta is made with the addition of 2.5 oz. of Cypress Grove Chevre Natural or Purple Haze at the end. The sweet apricots balance the tomatoes and the creamy polenta embraces all in its soft folds. A note on the photo: I took it the day after I made the dish, so it does not show how I served the dish the night before.

This is my entry for the lovely event My Legume Love Affair launched by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook. Here is the roundup.

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

ceci al pomodoro

or launch the ceci al pomodoro 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.]