Chickpea and herb pasta broth: Meera Sodha's vegan recipe for cicera e tria

Creating something beautiful from simple ingredients is true grace. In Italy, this style of cooking, resulting from making with, is known under the name of cucina povera. The recipe of the day, the cicerie tria (pasta with chickpeas), comes straight from the cucina povera of Salento in Puglia. The genius is not only that it elevates the normal ingredients, but that some of the fresh pasta is simmered in chickpea broth, which thickens it up wonderfully. The remaining pasta is shallow fried for a delicious crunch, which is the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Ciceri e tria

It's easier than you think consider making your own pasta, and very cheap too.

Preparation 15 minCooking 1 hour For 4 people

For chickpeas 4 tbsp olive oil 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced 1 stalk celery, finely diced 2 bay leaves 2 sprigs of rosemary 2 x 400 g tinned chickpeas, drained 1½ tsp fine sea salt 100 g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 tbsp lemon juice

For the pasta250g semolina flour fineFine sea salt 80ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for rubbing the paste2 garlic clove, peeled and sliced ​​½tsp chilli flakes

First make the pasta dough. Pour the semolina flour into a bowl, add half a teaspoon of fine salt, mix well and slowly add 140 ml of water. Knead for five minutes, until you have a stiff dough. Rub some olive oil over it and set aside.

Place the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and when hot, add the carrot, onion, celery, bay leaves and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the chickpeas, salt and a liter of water, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and lemon juice, simmer for another five minutes, then remove from the heat.

Place the dough on a clean work surface. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 3mm thick. Using the back of a table knife, cut the dough into ½cm wide x 10-15cm long strips, then set aside.

Heat a frying pan and pour 80 ml of oil into it. Add the minced garlic and a third of the pasta, sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt and sauté for three minutes, until crispy. Stir in the chili, then remove from the heat, leaving the pasta in the pan.

Just before serving, bring the chickpea mixture to a boil. Add the rest of the pasta and cook for two minutes. Ladle the chickpeas, vegetables and pasta into bowls with a ladle or two of broth, cover with a little fried pasta, drizzle with some chilli oil and serve immediately.