Chickpea Lemon Pasta

Inspired by Bianco - Phoenix, AZ

IMG_3448.jpg
IMG_3465.jpg
APC_0025.jpg
IMG_1970.jpg

There’s a time when I thought all pasta was meant to be covered in hearty sauces - whether that be Marinara, Alfredo, or Ragù. While all great, I’ve really come to love using a lighter touch as you’ll see when this simple lemon sauce. Without an overpowering sauce, you leave room for other elements to shine through and these chick pea balls I read about from Chris Biano really deserve your attention both in this pasta dish or as their own stand alone appetizer.

Parts of this recipe were adapted from Chris Bianco’s recipes for “Tagliatelle with Lemon” and “Polpette di Ceci (Chickpea Balls)” from his cookbook Bianco. He owns a pizzeria in Phoenix under the same name. It’s embarrassingly good.

INGREDIENTS

CHICKPEA BALLS (Makes about 15 - good in pasta or as an appetizer):

  • ½ cup dried chickpeas

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 1 large russet potato (about ¾ lb), peeled and diced

  • Zest of 2 lemons

  • ¼ cup chopped parsley

  • 1 garlic clove, chopped

  • 4 large eggs

  • 1 TBS red pepper flakes

  • 2 ½ oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

  • 1 cup bread crumbs

  • Salt

  • Pepper

  • Canola oil

LEMON PASTA (Serves 4 to 6):

  • ¾ to 1 lb of fresh fettuccine

  • ½ cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

  • ½ cup + 2 TBS olive oil

  • ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed

  • 6 bay leaves

  • 4 oz fresh spinach

  • 4 TBS room temperature butter

  • Salt

  • Pepper

  • Red pepper flakes (optional)

GO FOR IT

CHICKPEA BALLS:

  1. In a bowl, soak chickpeas in water overnight for 12 hours, then drain and rinse

  2. In a large saucepan, cover chickpeas with water, add bay leaves, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 40 to 60 minutes (check for doneness at 40 minutes and leave in if still too firm, checking every 5 minutes), then drain and let cool

  3. As chickpeas cook, boil water in a separate pot, then add diced potatoes and boil for 15 to 20 minutes until tender, then mash with a ricer or as normal (a ricer helps because it will be easier to mix later on)

  4. When chickpeas are drained, puree about half of them in a food processor, and roughly mash other half roughly with a fork

  5. In a large bowl mix together pureed chickpeas, roughly mashed chickpeas, riced/mashed potatoes, chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, chopped garlic, ¾ of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and 1 egg

  6. Taste and mix in salt and pepper as needed

  7. Shape your mix into golf ball sized balls a set aside on parchment paper (you should have between 14 and 18)

  8. In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs, and in another bowl put bread crumbs

  9. Using 1 hand for the egg and the other hand for the bread crumbs, dip balls first in egg, then cover in breadcrumbs, before placing back on parchment paper

  10. In a large skillet, heat about half an inch of oil to 350°F then fry balls for about 5 to 10 minutes per side until golden brown (leave enough room to flip balls with tongs, working in batches if necessary)

  11. Remove balls from oil to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano before serving fresh or setting aside for pasta

LEMON PASTA:

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil

  2. As water heats, in a bowl, whisk together lemon juice, ½ cup of olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, then season with salt and pepper before setting aside

  3. In a large skillet heat 2 TBS of olive oil over medium-low heat before throwing in garlic and toasting for 1 minute

  4. Add in bay leaves and toast additional 1 minute before adding in spinach and stirring until wilted

  5. Add in lemon juice mixture and bring to a slow simmer

  6. Once water is large pot is boiling, cook fresh pasta for 5 minutes or as directed on package

  7. Drain pasta and toss pasta in skillet until everything is well coated

  8. Remove from heat and in a large bowl, toss pasta with butter

  9. Serve on a plate or bowl, top with pepper, red pepper flakes, and add in a couple chickpea balls

NOTES:

If I wanted to go all out, I could have made my own pasta dough as directed by Chris Bianco. Fresh pasta is on my to-do list of things to master this summer but its been a busy week and this recipe already has enough moving parts. What I did do though is buy some fresh fettuccine which can be found in a refrigerated section of most grocery stores these days. It may be a bit more expensive than the dry stuff but it cooks faster and gives you a much better texture. Chris uses tagliatelle but after researching, I’ve learned it’s essentially the same pasta as fettuccine but go by different names depending on which region of Italy you’re in. If that explanation is wrong, please let me know.

I imagine you can also use canned chickpeas if desired. In this case you will need about 1 ½ cups since dried chickpeas triple in size after soaking. However, I like going the fresh route since chickpeas are the star component here and this will give them a chance to really soak in the bay leaf flavor while simmering. As I said, these things are amazing all on their own so go ahead and flag this recipe for a fun dinner party appetizer.

Lastly, let me just say I know this pasta has quite a bit of lemon juice and lemon juice can be quite overpowering. This is why it is important to salt the lemon mix a bit before using and why you cannot skip on the butter as the fat content will balance out the tart acidity of the lemon.