I always hated cooked Chickpea's, as a kid, and when mom would make this. I never liked them until I actually grew up and tried them again. I loved roasted Chickpea's at the Italian Feasts, but no other way.Mom didn't appreciate my thought process on what they looked like to me at all!
Chickpea's always reminded of (as a kid remember), little shaped derriere's and so I called this bubble butt pasta and wasn't going to eat that! So, hopefully your laughing at me now, but seriously they were funny looking for a kid that just happen to a warped sense of humor like me!!! I was so fussy, never wanted to eat anything except plain foods, nothing fancy....or complicated. These were funny looking beans~ oh well too much information. The things that kids say! Glad my kids weren't fussy at all they loved everything. Now guess what....this is one of my favorite dishes... I can't tell you how many times I wished I hadn't been so fussy, I missed out on some traditional foods, the taste is in my mind now and boy do I miss this one, so recreating it was a nice tribute for me and I am sure she is so happy I finally grew up and figured out how wonderful all these dishes are ~ better late than never!!!!.
So here we are with Claudia's version of my Mom's favorite pasta chickpea fazool ( fazool as we know it had no chickpea's only white beans like northern or cannellini) but the sauce taste oh so similar. Oh course you can use the other beans if you would like to substitute. The beans have a distinctive different flavor. If you had read my blog previous post, you may be already aware I make my beans from scratch in a crock pot. You may have seen that on my recipe for Italian Chickpea Shrimp Soup .
2 cups ditalini pasta boiled and drained
4 plum tomatoes diced
1 can of diced tomatoes not drained
1 can tomato paste plus two cans of water
2 cloves minced garlic
1 head boiled escarole chopped
1 16oz can chicken broth
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, oregano, parsley and garlic powder
grating cheese for garnish
In a large saucepan, add oil and garlic saute till brown. Add chickpea's and escarole and saute for 5 minutes. Add spices, chicken broth, tomatoes, water. Simmer for around 1/2 hour. Add boiled pasta. If too thick add more water for desired thickness. Top with red pepper flakes and grating cheese.
