If Italy is shaped like a boot, Puglia is the stiletto heel, and has historically been ruled by various people including the Greeks, Romans, Lombards, Byzantines, Normans, Turks, Venetians and the Spanish. I had been wishing to walk among the baroque architecture of Lecce and take a dip in the Adriatic and Ionian seas on either side of the ‘heel’, ever since watching the film Loose Cannons (Italian title: Mine Vaganti) directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, back in 2010.
As with the factory in the movie, only flour and water are used to make pasta there, unlike the fresh pastas of northern Italy, which use eggs. Local durum wheat and fine semolina are also kneaded into large loaves of bread, Pane Pugliese, which we drove to the town of Altamura for. It was well worth the journey, even though the car got stuck in the winding one-way alleys of the Old Town that got progressively narrower...
The cuisine of Puglia is the quintessential Mediterranean diet, with a focus on vegetables and seafood cooked in olive oil. To keep with the 'quick fix' cooking theme, we have used tinned chickpeas in this recipe, but dried chickpeas taste better if you are able to prepare in advance. Although this is a lean and frugal meal, the Ciceri e Tria I tried in Lecce was quite memorable. Although our recipe is an 'express' version, the real deal is stewed much longer, for more of a pasta sauce than minestrone vibes. One hack is to blitz the sauce in a blender at Step 6.
Ingredients
Serves 2
200 g tinned chickpeas (125g drained), or 100 g dried chickpeas
1/2 carrot, roughly minced
1/2 celery stalk, roughly minced
1/2 small white onion, roughly minced
3 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, roughly chopped with a sharp knife
2-3 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
3 rosemary sprigs
500ml stock of choice
40 ml extra virgin olive oil
150 g tagliatelle, plus an extra 20g for frying
30 g fine sea salt (for cooking the pasta)
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
*If using dried chickpeas, soak them overnight in plenty of water with a handful of salt. Drain thoroughly before using.
In a large saucepan, sauteé the carrot, celery and onion in 20 ml of olive oil for the sofrito base. If you make a larger portion, this is useful to portion and freeze for later use in soups and stews.
Once the vegetables are tender, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley and bay leaves. Sauteé for a few minutes, then add the stock. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low for the sauce to simmer whilst the pasta cooks (if you have used dried chickpeas, ensure that they have softened before moving onto the next step).
Bring a large pot with at least 2 litres of water to a rolling boil (increase the amount of salt if using more water). Salt the water as it reaches a boil. Add the tagliatelle, return to the boil and cook the pasta according to the pack instructions until a few minutes shy of al dente.
Meanwhile, in a small frying pan over low heat, cook the garlic clove and rosemary in 20 ml of olive oil to infuse their aromas into the oil. Remove a 20 gram-portion of nearly-cooked tagliatelle from the pot, drain, and fry until golden. Set the fried tagliatelle (‘Tria’) aside. Discard the rosemary and garlic, but keep the oil for drizzling.
Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and discard. Season the sauce with freshly ground black pepper and keep warm over low heat.
Drain and stir the remaining tagliatelle into the chickpea sauce, cooking for a few minutes over low heat.
Taste and correct for salt before ladling into serving bowls. Top with the fried tagliatelle. Drizzle with the flavoured extra virgin olive oil, season with freshly ground pepper and serve.
We would love to see how you've made this recipe your own! Please leave a comment or tag me on social media (@xoxo_miso_girl)