Chef Luigi Fineo cooks a typical dish from his homeland Puglia: Ciceri e Tria, a preparation of pasta and chickpeas.
The southern Italian region isn't only about orecchiette or strascenate – Ciceri e Tria is a pasta typical of the region of Salento. Not only are chickpeas and pasta the primary ingredients, but there's also fried pasta that adds a delightful textural contrast.
Watch the video to learn how to prepare this traditional Apulian recipe at home, here down you'll find the complete recipe. Buon appetito!
Ciceri e Tria by Chef Luigi Fineo
Ingredients:
1 cups dried chickpeas
1/2 carrot
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 cup 00 flour
2 cups semolina
1 cup water
1 cup frying oil
Parsley, roughly chopped
Baby arugula leafs
Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated canestrato cheese
Salt
Fresh black pepper
Method:
Soak the chickpeas overnight by leaving them in the refrigerator.
Change the water and rinse. Place the chickpeas in a large pot and cover with lightly salted water twice over then add the carrot, celery, and ½ the onion (leave the other half for the sauce).
Simmer and cook until tender, about 6 hours by adding water if necessary.
While the chickpeas cook, make the pasta by mixing roughly ⅓ white flour to ⅔ semolina flour with water until you reach pasta consistency. Lit rest for about one hour at room temperature.
Roll out the dough to about 6mm than into shapes of 3″ by ½″.
Dust with flour to make sure that it won’t stick together, and then dry a few hours.
Pour the frying oil into a medium-size pan, and bring to frying temperature. Fry ⅓ of the pasta until light brown then transfer to a paper towel to absorb extra oil. Season the chickpeas to taste, then remove the carrots, celery, and onions. Cook the rest of the pasta until al dente in salted boiling water, around 3 minutes.
Sautée the remaining onion with a little olive oil. Once translucent, add the chickpea and let it simmer for a few minutes until the sauce emulsifies. Add the cooked pasta, half of the parsley, and half of the baby arugula. Sprinkle the cheese, mixing well, then adding salt and pepper to taste. . Place it in a bowl and finish it with the fried pasta, the remaining parsley, and arugula.