Creamy Chickpea Pasta

• servings: 2 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 yellow onion (diced)

1 celery rib (diced)

5 cloves garlic (smashed)

1 sprig rosemary

1 teaspoon Calabrian chili oil (or any spicy oil (optional)

1 can organic chickpeas (small can)

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

1/4 teaspoon pepper (to taste)

1 cup pastina (any small pasta shape)

1/2 cup parmigiano cheese (grated)

splash of pasta water (at the end)

Directions

In a pot on medium heat, add the oil. Let the oil come to a shimmer and add in the onions, celery, garlic, and a sprig of rosemary.

Optionally, drizzle a touch of Calabrian chili oil for spice. You can use a piece of chili pepper or even chili flakes if you like heat.

Now, let it cook for 5 minutes as you stir. After the veggies have softened, add in the chickpeas, salt, pepper, and broth.

Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies have fully softened.

Now, take it off the heat, let it cool a bit, take out the rosemary sprig, transfer the rest of it carefully into a blender, blend until smooth.

Pour the blended chickpea cream back into the pot and add the grated Parmesan cheese. Please use good quality Parmigiano Reggiano cheese here only. Stir and set aside.

In the meantime, boil the pastina of choice in boiling salted water. I decided to use baby shells today but any tiny pasta shape will work.

Once boiled, reserve some of the pasta water and strain the rest of the pastina.

Add the pastina into the creamy chickpea sauce with a splash of that pasta water (or until desired consistency).

Serve with extra hot pepper oil on top (or a drizzle of finishing olive oil) and enjoy!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 portion
• Calories: 590 kcal
• Total Fat: 19 g
• Saturated Fat: 6 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
• Cholesterol: 21 mg
• Sodium: 2274 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 77 g
• Dietary Fiber: 13 g
• Total Sugars: 5 g
• Protein: 29 g