If there’s one recipe that stands out as a clear family favourite, it would definitely be chickpea pasta soup. I’ve been making this soup for years, and we haven’t tired of it yet. It’s easy to make, smells wonderful while it simmers, is delicious to eat, and tastes even better the following day.
It’s a great dinner to follow a big Sunday lunch, but filling enough to be the main event as well. It’s vegetarian, and popular with most kids I feed it to (aside from the odd garlic hater). I clipped the original recipe from the newspaper a good ten years ago, but it’s evolved into our own version.
Chickpea pasta soup
(serves 4)
- 8-12 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- 3 bay leaves,
- 1.5 litres water
- 2 tins chickpeas
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 200g small pasta shapes (I use ditalini)
- Put the water, garlic cloves and bay leaves in a large pot. Bring to the boil, and leave to simmer for one hour.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. It’s nicer if you remove the skins, but a faff as well. I often get the girls to help me with this job.
- Add the chickpeas and stock cube, and simmer 15 minutes. Bring the soup to the boil and add the pasta. It’s ready when the pasta is cooked through.
- Season to taste. I serve it with grated parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil and freshly ground pepper.
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