Here’s a new favorite cold weather dish in my home. A container of leftover cooked macaroni was the inspiration for this adaptation of a recipe I found in a magazine. It’s a great vegetarian/vegan main dish, best accompanied by a baguette or other crusty bread. For a vegetarian recipe with relatively simple ingredients, it packs a flavor punch.
The procedure calls for infusing olive oil with rosemary, garlic and hot pepper. It sounds like extra work — why not just put those ingredients right in the dish? Yes you can do that, but I think infusing the oil creates a nicer flavor. Plus you don’t have those rosemary leaf bits hanging around. They always seem like little twigs if they aren’t sufficiently minced up.
You need a side dish with some color, preferably green:
- roasted Brussels sprouts
- tossed green salad
- chunky vegetable salad with peppers, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, black olives and oregano. Add some fresh mozzarella for a protein boost.
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas
- olive oil (you might need 4 or more tablespoons total)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 stalks celery, minced
- 3 cups flavorful vegetable broth
- 1/2 lb pasta, such as macaroni or other small pasta, cooked according to package instructions (great way to use up cooked pasta)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed, not chopped
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary, chopped a bit (or fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped)
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese (either slices from a block of cheese, or dry grated)
Make the oil
Heat 2-3 TB olive oil in a small pan over low/medium heat. Add the garlic, rosemary and pepper flakes. Add a few shakes of salt. Continue to heat for a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and set the pan aside.
Garbanzo beans
Drain most of the liquid off the garbanzos into a shallow bowl. Scoop about half the beans into the bowl. Puree the bean/liquid mixture in a food processor or blender, or with an immersion blender. Alternately, if you don’t have that equipment, mash the beans and liquid using a fork. If you’re cooking with children, this would be a fun activity for a kid. It could be messy. Set the pureed beans aside.
Make the dish
- Heat 2 TB olive oil in a large sauce pan. Sauté the onion and celery over medium heat until soft.
- Stir in the broth, garbanzos from the can, garbanzo puree. Heat to simmering.
- Add the cooked pasta and heat through, but don’t overcook. Add more broth if you like a more soup-like meal.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Drain the infused oil through a sieve into a small bowl, discard the garlic/rosemary seasonings.
- Serve the pasta in bowls, garnished with slices of Parmesan cheese, or grated Parmesan (easier). Vegans would omit the cheese.
- Drizzle a bit of the seasoned oil over each bowl.
I liked the flavor just fine as is, but you might like to change it up sometime. Other possible garnishes:
- chopped fresh tomatoes
- chopped black olives
- finely chopped walnuts
- minced parsley
