500G / Kitchen sheet
Creamy pasta and chickpeas: a recipe without cream
The cream is in the chickpeas. Blend some of them and let the pasta’s starch do the rest. This is the 500GCORP home version: thick, simple and served straight from the pot.
Serves 4 · Prep 10 minutes · Cook approximately 25 minutes. Timing depends on the pasta shape.
At the stove
Method
- Warm the oil in a large saucepan. Add the lightly crushed garlic and rosemary. Cook gently for 2 minutes without burning the garlic.
- Add the chickpeas and optional tomato paste. Stir, pour in about 700 ml stock and simmer for 8–10 minutes. Remove the garlic and rosemary sprig.
- Scoop out a third of the chickpeas with a little liquid and blend. Return the mixture to the pot. Bring to a gentle boil and add the pasta.
- Cook for the time on the pasta packet, stirring often. Add the remaining stock gradually: the pasta needs enough liquid to cook, but the finished dish should be creamy rather than soupy.
- Turn off the heat when the pasta is al dente. Adjust the salt and pepper, rest for 2 minutes and finish with a drizzle of oil. Loosen with a little hot stock if it thickens too much.
The move that makes the dish
Blend the chickpeas, not the entire pot. Whole chickpeas give you something to bite; the blended ones bring pasta and stock together. Taste before adding salt, as your stock may already be seasoned.
Only have spaghetti?
Break them into short pieces and follow their cooking time. It is a different version with the same approach. Don’t add extra pasta just to thicken the dish: adjust the stock and chickpea mixture instead.
Bring the pot to the table. Decide on second helpings there.