Umbrian Chickpea Soup, Primitive to the Bones - spanishchef.netspanishchef.net

Umbrian Chickpea Soup

I thought the soup served to me a few months ago at Peasant, the Italian-American restaurant on Elizabeth Street, was a pretty close relative, at least in taste and texture. It had black chickpeas (yes, you can use regular chickpeas, though you can find black ones pretty easily at most well-stocked Indian markets, as they’re used in dal) and a slew of other vegetables. And it had a similar thick, stewy texture.

But as Frank de Carlo, Peasant’s chef and a friend of mine, revealed to me, the soup — Umbrian in origin — contains animal products in three forms, and each one is used judiciously and beautifully. This may not be the soup of rich people — it’s really quite primitive stuff — but it’s a far more celebratory soup than the one I described above.

There is time involved, and even a bit of work; it’s worth it. You start by browning meaty bones of veal or pork, in olive oil, of course. (Frank said that pork is more traditional; I’d add that it’s better, but that veal is lovely, too.) This is the only part of the process that requires extended attention. You simmer those bones with the pre-soaked chickpeas and the more-or-less-expected vegetables, until the meat is falling off the bones and the chickpeas are tender. This takes a long time — hours — and there’s no reason not to do it in advance. At that point, you fish out the bones and let them cool enough to shred any meat that fell off them and discard gristle, any lumps of fat and the bones.

The soup is finished with a double whammy of body and flavor: beaten eggs and grated Parmesan. I mean, really, how can you go wrong?

But it’s worth pointing out, I think, that the soup is neither a fat-bomb (I wouldn’t be surprised if it has fewer calories than Olga’s) nor one that lacks complexity. The black chickpeas themselves — smaller than the more familiar chickpeas, but quite black before cooking, which lightens them — seem smoky and earthy to me. You use, among other things, tomatoes, thyme (on one occasion, I used sage, equally nice), basil and greens (I like chard best here). And you finish it with homemade croutons, a welcome touch. It is, in short, a vegetable soup with a lot of guts.

Soup recipes with Bill & Sheila

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