If there was a restaurant that served Italian home food, I’d be eager to try more than any expected ones, serving only ‘typical’ pasta and pizza. Albeit many of us got exposed to waved marketing materials, telling us what is ‘authentic’ Italian food, I honestly appreciate their home food — something I truly want to eat regularly and healthily, and chickpea soup is one of them.
Absolutely nothing fancy, rather it looks boring, pale, and really humble; this chickpea soup cooked with courgette, potato, and rosemary is soothing, warming, and very body-friendly.
A Small Cooking Note
Forget about the store-bought; I encourage you to cook dried chickpeas from scratch to enrich the broth with chickpea umami. Simply soak the chickpeas overnight, then cook in salted water in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes. I often drink the chickpea broth like a baby version of consommé. A tinned one is convenient, but you won’t be able to enjoy the amazing broth.
Variations
Add anchovies: Disintegrate a few fillets of anchovies while gently cooking the onions. Anchovy acts as an umami booster, but you won’t notice it.
Blend for thickness: Use an immersion blender for part of it to achieve your desired thickness. I like mine to be brothy, so I didn’t do that.
Add croutons: Since all the chickpeas, potatoes, and courgettes are on the tender side, crunchy croutons can spark a nice contrast. Just tear a slice of stale bread, toss with olive oil, finely grated garlic and dried herbs, then toast or pan-fry.
Similar Chickpea Recipes
A Humble Chickpea Pasta (Pasta e Ceci) : You won’t find this in Italian restaurants.
Bowl of Goodness: Chickpeas and Noodles Soup : Inspired by Persian ash soup.
Chickpea Soup with Courgette and Rosemary Recipe
Plan a little ahead — soak the chickpeas — and you’ll have two bowls of healthy soup in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 200 g dried chickpeas (soaked in advance)
- 1 L water
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 1 dried chilli, deseeded
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 1 medium courgette
- 2 potatoes (approx. 170 g)
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
How to Make
- First cook the chickpeas. Put all the chickpeas, water, and salt in a pressure cooker, then cook for 10 minutes under high pressure. Release pressure naturally.
- While waiting, prepare the vegetables. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan, and dice the onion into smaller pieces, then gently cook over medium-low heat until softened.
- Throw in the chilli and rosemary to release aroma, too.
- Dice the courgette and potatoes into similar sizes, join the onions together with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- When everything glistens, spoon over the cooked chickpeas as well as the broth, depending on how much you want — I used 3 ladlefuls. Let it cook for a further 10 minutes, until the courgette is kind of mushy, and the potatoes are soft enough.
- Have a taste check and adjust with your instinct. Drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper before serving.
