Erica De Mane

Joseph’s mother’s lagane e ceci.

Recipe:

Lagane e ceci

Dear Erica,

I’m very happy to read about your new website feature, “Lost Recipes Found.” One recipe in particular, something my mother made often, I really, really miss. It’s a pasta with chickpeas in a white sauce of some sort, and no tomatoes. I’ve tried making it myself, but I can’t get it right. My sister can’t either. The pasta looked like fettuccine, only cut shorter. I can’t remember if my mother made the pasta fresh herself or not. There was parsley and hot pepper in the sauce, but other than that mainly chickpeas and I guess olive oil (I never paid much attention to her cooking; I was only interested in eating). I grew up in the Bronx. My mother’s family came from Salerno, near Naples. If you could help me recreate this pasta, I’d be really grateful.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Joseph Milite, Tribeca, N.Y.

I’ve chosen this email sent to me by Joseph Milite to start off my “Lost Recipes Found” feature because I too love pasta with chickpeas. It’s a simple but deeply flavored dish made throughout Italy’s south. I’ve eaten it in Basilicata where it almost always includes a good dose of hot chilies, and in Puglia where it goes by the name of ciceri e tria, tria being an old name for pasta, most likely of Arabic origin. What makes the Puglian version special is the garnish of crispy fried pasta scattered over the top right before serving. I’ve found many recipes for pasta with chickpeas in Calabria and Campania too.

Lagane is the name used for the type of homemade pasta that accompanies chickpeas in most parts of the south. It’s an ancient word which most historians agree is likely the origin of the modern Italian word lasagne. Most of the recipes for lagane are for a chewy pasta of durum wheat and water; no eggs here, as this is cucina povera. The pasta is cut the width of fettuccine but in shorter lengths, usually about two inches long. Our neighbor across the street when I was a kid, whose family was from Sorrento, used to make this dish with fresh lagane and long-simmered dried chickpeas. No tomatoes, just chickpea-cooking broth, garlic, olive oil, and a good amount of celery (her own personal stamp). I loved it. My mother made a gal-on-the-go version with dried ziti, canned chick peas, and lots of parsley; I loved that too.

I make variations on pasta with chickpeas often, usually using dried pasta such as cavatelli or orecchiette. Sometimes I’ll add pancetta or sage, or white wine, or tomatoes, but to recreate this recipe for Mr. Milite, I’ve stuck with a classic Campanian version: homemade durum wheat lagane, garlic, fresh parsley, rosemary, and dried chickpeas simmered with bay leaves. I believe this will be very close to the beloved dish his mother made. He’ll have to try it and let me know.

(A note on the recipe: Durum wheat flour is a finer grind than what in this country is called semolina flour. Both are made from the same, hard wheat, but when I tried making lagane with semolina, as recommended in several published recipes, the pasta was stiff and chewy, delicious but more like the Puglian version. When I researched lagane in Salerno, I found recipes for the pasta made with coarse or fine-ground hard wheat, or with soft white flour, so I decided on the middle ground and came up with something with lovely texture and just a little bite to it, the way I remember my Sorrentese neighbor’s tasting.)

Lagane e Ceci

(Serves 4 as a first course)

For the lagane:

1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups fine durum wheat flour

For the sauce:

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cool water to cover
1 bay leaf, fresh if possible
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
1 small onion, cut into small dice
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 small, fresh red peperoncino pepper, minced
A sprig of rosemary, the leaves chopped
A splash of dry white wine
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves lightly chopped
A chunk of firm Caciocavallo cheese (optional)

To cook the chickpeas:

Drain the chickpeas and place them in a large pot. Cover them with cool water by at least 2 inches. Add the bay leaf and turn the heat to high. When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and let them simmer gently, partially covered, until tender, about 1 1/2 hours, but it really depends on how hard your chic peas are. Some can take longer, so start testing them after about 1 1/2 hours. Add more warm water if needed to keep the chickpeas covered. When they’re tender, season them with salt and a generous drizzle of olive oil, and turn off the heat.

To make the pasta:

Pour the water and the salt into the bowl of a food processor and give it a few pulses. Start adding the flour a little at a time, giving it a few pulses each time to work it in. When the flour is incorporated and everything has formed a slightly sticky ball, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (if the dough seems too dry, drizzle in a tiny bit more warm water and pulse a few more times). Knead until the dough is smooth and shiny, about 8 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set it aside to rest for about 1/2 hour.

Cut the dough into 4 parts. Flour the first piece of dough lightly and run it through a hand-cranked pasta machine several times at each setting until you get to the third-to-last setting. The lagane should be a little thicker than standard fettuccine. Do this with each piece of dough. Lay all the pasta sheets out on a floured surface and let them sit to firm up for about 5 minutes. Now cut the sheets into approximately 1/4-inch-wide strips. Cut the strips into 2-inch lengths. Sprinkle the lagane with a little flour and lay them out so that the pieces don’t touch.

To make the sauce:

Drain the chickpeas, saving all their cooking liquid.

Set up a large pot of pasta cooking water and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, and sauté until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the peperoncino, rosemary, and the garlic, and sauté a minute longer, just to release their fragrances. Add about half of the chickpeas, and sauté them in the oil for about 3 or 4 minutes, letting them turn a little golden. Season with salt. Add the splash of white wine, and let it boil way. Add 1/2 cup of the chickpea cooking water, and let the sauce simmer. You’ll have some chickpeas left over to use for a salad or a side dish (it seems to me if I’m going to take the time to cook dried chickpeas, I might as well make a good amount and use them for different dishes).

Drop the lagane into the water and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain well and add them to the skillet. Toss everything together briefly in the skillet, adding a generous drizzle of fresh olive oil and the parsley. Add more salt if needed. You can also add a little extra ceci cooking liquid if it seems dry (the consistency shouldn’t be soupy, but a little moisture is the traditional texture). Transfer to a warmed serving bowl, and serve with grated Caciocavallo if desired. Often in Southern Italy dishes that contain hot chilies are serves without cheese, but this is not a hard rule, so just follow your taste. I like my lagane e ceci with a little cheese.