Lagane con Ceci e Olio Nuovo Calabrese

Ingredients

• For the chickpeas
• 300 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 2 rosemary sprigs, whole
• 4 garlic cloves, whole, unpeeled
• For the lagane dough
• 300 g durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata)
• 150 ml water, lukewarm
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• To finish
• 80 ml olio nuovo Calabrese, first-harvest extra-virgin olive oil; Carolea variety if available
• 1 tsp dried peperoncino flakes, or fresh chilli, finely sliced
• fine sea salt, to taste at the end only

Method

1. 1
   Drain the soaked chickpeas and place in a large pot. Cover generously with cold water. Add the rosemary sprigs and the whole unpeeled garlic cloves. Bring to the boil very slowly over a low flame — a gradual rise in temperature prevents the skins from splitting and toughening. Once at a steady simmer, cook until the chickpeas are completely tender throughout, with no chalky centre. The broth will be cloudy and starchy.
2. 2
   Remove the rosemary sprigs and garlic. Ladle away enough broth to leave the chickpeas sitting in a thick, starchy liquid — reserve the removed broth nearby. The pot should look more like a dense stew than a soup at this stage.
3. 3
   Make the lagane dough: combine the semolina and salt in a bowl, add the lukewarm water gradually, and work to a firm, cohesive dough. No egg is used — the ancient preparation is semolina and water only. Knead until smooth and no longer sticky, then rest under a cloth for 20 minutes. Roll out to a rough sheet approximately 2–3 mm thick and cut into wide, irregular strips — 2 to 3 cm wide and 8 to 10 cm long. The surfaces should be rough and porous.
4. 4
   Bring the chickpea pot back to a lively simmer. Drop the lagane directly into the chickpea broth — not into a separate pan of salted water. This is where the dish lives or dies: the pasta starch released during cooking thickens the broth into a dense, silky liquid, and the lagane absorb the chickpea flavour throughout. Stir regularly to prevent sticking. If the mass becomes too thick before the pasta is cooked, add reserved broth in small increments. Cook until the lagane are tender but retain some body — the finished dish should be very thick, almost more pasta-and-chickpea than broth.
5. 5
   Remove from the heat. Taste carefully before adding any salt — the chickpeas will have absorbed salt during their long cook, and the dish may need very little or none. Adjust only now.
6. 6
   Ladle into warm bowls. Dress each portion immediately and generously with the olio nuovo poured raw over the surface — it must not be heated. Finish with peperoncino. The olio nuovo should pool visibly on the surface; its pepper and green-grass intensity hits first on the palate.