Pasta and Chicken

"The first time I tried pasta e ceci, I fell completely in love and couldn't stop making it for months. Its flavor and consistency are incredibly soothing, and at the risk of offending our Italian cousins, I compare its soothing properties to a grown-up bean on toast. Depending on where you are in Italy, pasta e ceci varies greatly from region to region. In the poorer south, it's made with semolina pasta without the addition of eggs, chickpeas, and maybe a little tomato. As you move north, in the richer and more affluent regions, anchovies, rich egg pasta, and generous pieces of pancetta begin to appear at the base of the soffritto. I love this dish in all of these ways, especially with good pancetta, and depending on the weather and what's in the fridge, I often add one of these luxurious toppings. But in this book, I decided to show you how good it can be in its most humble form. My only request is that you use quality cooked chickpeas."

Excerpt from The Farm Table Text copyright © 2023 - Julius Roberts. Photographs copyright © 2023 - Elena Heatherwick, except as noted. Illustrations copyright © 2023 - Jethro Buck. Published by Ten Speed ​​Press, a Crown Publishing Group.