Recipe: Crema di Ceci (Chickpea Soup)
With olive oil being such a staple of the Italian diet, we of course incorporate visits to olive oil producers during our culinary tours. When visiting a frantoio, you not only get to see how the product is grown, harvested, and produced, but you get to taste it and learn how to identify GOOD olive oil and how to use it!
One great way to taste it is paired with different foods. On one of our very first visits to our favorite Tuscan olive oil producer, Frantoio Pruneti, our friend Emanuele made our group a special treat - his Crema di Ceci. A warm, creamy chickpea soup or 'cream' with hints of saffron and garnished with a drizzle of their olive oil. The heat from the soup not only releases some of the aroma and flavor compounds of the oil, but also the polyphenols or antioxidant qualities!
It was such a hit that we insist upon this dish each year when we return! We hope you enjoy this soul-warming Crema di Ceci. Buon appetito!
Ingredients (to serve 4-6):
- 2 lb dry chickpeas
- ½ tsp saffron threads
- Water or vegetable stock
- Salt & pepper
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
- The night before, soak the chickpeas in a pot of cold tap water, filling the water to twice the height of the chickpeas, as they will absorb the water.
- The next day, drain the chickpeas and rinse. Put back in the pot and fill with water or vegetable stock, covering by 2” or so.
- Set on the stove on medium, bringing so a slow simmer. Skim any foam that forms at the top and discard. Gently stir occasionally. When the chickpeas are “al dente,” or almost tender but still with some bite, add some salt and pepper to taste, as well as the saffron. It goes in red, but eventually melt away and will look yellow in color. Cook until just done, total of about 2 hours or so, depending on your flame.
- Remove the chickpeas with a slotted spoon and place either in food processor or use an immersion blender. Adding some of the chickpea cooking liquid as needed to thin out the chickpeas, blend until smooth, obtaining a consistency that is not too thin or thick (about the consistency that just coats the back of a spoon).
- Ladle into bowls. Drizzle with olive oil and serve hot (but even cold tastes yummy!)