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Italian · Basilicata

Lagane e Ceci

Lagane e ceci is Basilicata's ancient pasta-and-chickpea dish—wide, flat ribbons of fresh flour-and-water pasta served in a thick, garlicky chickpea stew enriched with olive oil, chilli, and often a handful of fried breadcrumbs for crunch. The dish is a direct descendant of the Roman 'laganum' (flat sheets of dough, referenced by Horace and Apicius), making it one of the oldest continuously prepared pasta dishes in Italy. The lagane are simple—durum wheat flour and water, rolled thick (2-3mm) and cut into wide, irregular ribbons about 3cm across—with a rough, porous surface that absorbs the chickpea broth. The chickpeas are soaked overnight, simmered for hours with garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and a dried chilli until very tender, with about a third mashed back into the cooking liquid to create a thick, starchy base. The lagane are boiled separately and added to the chickpea stew, or in some versions cooked directly in the chickpea broth (which makes the dish thicker and more porridge-like). A generous drizzle of raw olive oil at serving is essential—Basilicata's olive oil is robust and peppery, and it lifts the earthy chickpeas. Some versions include a sautéed soffritto of garlic and dried chilli in olive oil poured over the dish at the last moment (a 'frizzulo'). The dish is substantial, vegan, and profoundly comforting—cucina povera at its most elemental and satisfying.

ServesFour portions
Sourced0of 12 in BC
Cook
I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

For the chickpea stew
400 g
dried chickpeas
soaked overnight in cold water
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4
garlic cloves
whole, peeled
Your own market
2
bay leaves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
sprig rosemary
Your own market
1–2
dried chillies
whole
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
robust, peppery Basilicatan style; plus more to finish
Your own market
For the lagane
300 g
durum wheat flour (semola rimacinata)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 ml
water
lukewarm
Your own market
1 tsp
fine salt
Your own market
For the frizzulo
2
garlic cloves
thinly sliced
Your own market
1
dried chilli
crumbled
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
II

The Method

1
Drain the soaked chickpeas and place them in a large pot. Cover generously with cold water. Add the whole garlic cloves, bay leaves, rosemary sprig, and dried chillies. Bring to the boil, skim any foam, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook for 2–3 hours, until the chickpeas are very tender and collapse easily under the back of a spoon — the broth should be starchy and cloudy, not thin.
2
Remove the bay leaves, rosemary, and chillies. Using a ladle or fork, remove roughly one third of the chickpeas and mash them thoroughly back into the cooking liquid — this is where the dish lives or dies: the mashed chickpeas dissolve into the broth and create the thick, starchy base that binds pasta and legume into a single mass rather than a soup with garnish. Stir the 60 ml of olive oil into the stew. Season with salt. The consistency should be that of a loose porridge — fluid enough to absorb the pasta, dense enough to coat a spoon.
3
Make the lagane. Combine the durum wheat flour and salt on a work surface, form a well, and add the lukewarm water gradually, working the dough until it comes together into a firm, compact mass. Knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth but not supple — this is a stiff dough. Rest under an inverted bowl for 30 minutes. Roll to 2–3 mm thickness — deliberately thick — and cut into wide, irregular ribbons approximately 3 cm across with rough, uneven edges. The roughness is not a fault; it is the property that allows the broth to cling.
4
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the lagane for 4–6 minutes until just tender but with a distinct chew — the thick dough takes longer than conventional pasta. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta cooking water, and transfer the lagane directly into the chickpea stew. Stir to combine, adding a splash of pasta water if the stew has thickened beyond a coating consistency. The dish should look dense and almost porridge-like in the bowl, with the ribbons barely visible beneath the stew.
From the canon — Pasta cooking water contains dissolved starch (released from the pasta surface during boiling) at a concentration that increases with pasta-to-water ratio an… Pasta Water: Starch Concentration and Sauce Binding →
5
Prepare the frizzulo. In a small pan, heat the 30 ml of olive oil over a medium-high flame. Add the sliced garlic and crumbled chilli. Cook briefly until the garlic turns pale gold and the oil is fragrant and beginning to smoke at the edges — listen for the sizzle, which should be active and immediate. Pour the sizzling oil over the plated dish at the moment of serving.
6
Portion into warmed, deep bowls. Finish each portion with a generous drizzle of raw extra-virgin olive oil — do not stir it in. The oil should pool briefly on the surface before the diner breaks through it. The aroma of the raw oil lifted by the heat of the stew is the final indicator that the dish is correctly assembled.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Dried chickpeas from Basilicata or the Murge (e.g. Cicerale), grown slowly in poor, calcareous soils and dried at low temperature: their starch content is markedly higher, and the broth they produce sets almost to a gel. Paired with a cold-pressed DOP olive oil from Matera or Vulture.
02
Estate — Italian or Spanish dried chickpeas from a named producer, soaked overnight. A single-estate southern Italian extra-virgin olive oil, robust and peppery. Durum wheat semola rimacinata from a stone-milled mill.
03
Market — Good-quality dried chickpeas from any reliable source, soaked overnight. A sound southern Italian or Greek extra-virgin olive oil. Standard commercial semola rimacinata.
04
House — Canned chickpeas may stand in under duress, but the starchy cooking liquid — the structural core of the sauce — is lost, and the dish cannot be fully realised. The result will be serviceable but not the dish described by Zanini De Vita.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Touch. A chickpea pressed between two fingers collapses without resistance and the skin offers no toughness — the flesh is uniformly soft throughout.
◇Sight. The stew after mashing is opaque, thick, and pale gold; it falls from a spoon in a slow, continuous ribbon rather than dripping in drops.
◇Touch. A ribbon of lagane, bitten through at the thickest point, shows a uniform texture with a definite but yielding resistance — no raw, chalky core.
◇Smell. The raw olive oil drizzled at serving releases a grassy, peppery perfume as it meets the heat of the stew — the signal that the dish is at the correct temperature to serve.
◇Sound. The frizzulo sizzles immediately and vigorously when the sliced garlic meets the hot oil — a sluggish sizzle indicates the oil is too cool and the garlic will stew rather than fry.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies when the cooked chickpeas are mashed: too few mashed and the broth remains thin and soupy; too many and the stew becomes paste — the correct proportion, roughly one third, creates the thick, starchy base that is the soul of the dish.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Bisol Cartizze Dry
Bisol · Prosecco DOC / DOCG
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Fort Berens Riesling
Fort Berens Estate Winery · Lillooet
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic

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The whole pairing
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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