An ancient recipe from Lecce with chickpeas and "trie" (handmade pasta partly fried).
Preparation time:
- 40 minutes + 12 hours of soaking
Cooking time:
- 2 hours and 30 minutes
Ingredients for 4 people:
- 250 g of durum wheat semolina
- 200 g of dried chickpeas
- 1 whole clove of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 stalk of celery
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Preparation:
- Soak the chickpeas in cold water overnight with ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
- Drain them, rinse and put them in a saucepan with the celery, the whole clove of garlic, and a bay leaf, cover them with already hot water and cook them on low heat for 2 hours; add salt at the end of cooking.
- Midway through cooking, add hot water if necessary.
- Once cooked, take about a third of them and mash them with a fork, mixing them with the whole chickpeas.
- Prepare the lagane or "trie" by working the semolina with lukewarm water; the dough should be smooth and soft, and let it rest for 30 minutes wrapped in a cloth.
- Roll out the dough to a maximum thickness of 2 mm and cut into strips 1-2 cm wide and 10-15 cm long.
- Fry a third of the pasta in oil.
- Cook the remaining two-thirds of the pasta in abundant salted water (2 liters of water and 5 g of coarse salt) for two minutes, drain it, and add it to the chickpeas.
- Serve and add the lightly salted fried pasta, a sprinkle of black pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Notes:
- The fried pasta should be added just before serving to keep it crunchy.
- If there is leftover fresh pasta, I recommend rolling it out as thin as possible and letting it dry so it can be consumed in the following days.
- Any type of pot can be used for cooking the chickpeas.