How to Make Tuscan Chickpea Soup

Easy Recipe for Homemade Italian Soup from Twelve Cookbook

Aug 1, 2009 Rebecca Ford

If you go on holiday to Tuscany, you'll probably find delicious chickpea soup on at least one menu. Here's an easy recipe so you can try making your own at home.

Chickpeas are both tasty and nutritious and feature in a variety of Italian dishes. In Tuscany, chickpeas are used mainly in soups, but are also ground into a flour and used to make a flat savoury tart. This recipe for chickpea soup (zuppa di ceci) comes from Twelve: A Tuscan Cook Book, by Tessa Kiros (pub. Murdoch Books, £16.99) and appears here with permission.

Chickpea Soup - Recipe

Zuppa di ceci

Ingredients - Serves 6–8

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, trimmed and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 small red dried chilli, left whole
• 100 g (31/2 oz) silverbeet (Swiss chard), trimmed and finely sliced
• 2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and puréed or 150 g (51/2 oz) tin of peeled tomatoes, puréed
• 6 thick slices white, country-style bread
• extra virgin olive oil, to serve

Method

1. Drain the soaked chickpeas and put them into a large stockpot. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Cover with 3.5 litres (14 cups) of cold water (add the rest later if it doesn’t fit), and bring to the boil.
2. Skim the surface to remove any scum. Lower the heat slightly and cook, uncovered, for about 11/4 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender. Season with salt and pepper in the last half hour of the cooking time. Purée two-thirds of the chickpeas with their cooking liquid, leaving the remainder whole. Return all to the pot. Add a little hot water if it seems too thick.
3. Chop one of the garlic cloves. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the chopped garlic, rosemary sprigs and the chilli. When you begin to smell the garlic, add the silverbeet. Sauté on a medium heat for a couple of minutes before adding the tomato.
4. Season with salt and pepper and continue cooking for about 5 minutes until the tomato has melted into a sauce and seems cooked. Remove the rosemary sprigs and discard. Add the tomato mix to the chickpea pot and simmer for another few minutes to blend the flavours. Check the seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper, if necessary.
5. Toast or grill (broil) the bread slices on both sides. Rub one side with the whole clove of garlic and drizzle with the olive oil. Put the soup into large individual bowls with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and a grinding of black pepper. Serve with the garlic bread.

Try this recipe for Green Nettle Gnocchi, and read a review of Twelve: A Tuscan Cook Book

The copyright of the article How to Make Tuscan Chickpea Soup in Italian Cuisine is owned by Rebecca Ford. Permission to republish How to Make Tuscan Chickpea Soup in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Tuscan Chickpea Soup