Lagane e Ceci

Ingredients

• For the chickpea stew
• 400 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 4 garlic cloves, whole, peeled
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1–2 dried chillies, whole
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, robust, peppery Basilicatan style; plus more to finish
• For the lagane
• 300 g durum wheat flour (semola rimacinata)
• 150 ml water, lukewarm
• 1 tsp fine salt
• For the frizzulo
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 dried chilli, crumbled
• 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil

Method

1. 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. 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. 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. 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.
5. 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. 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.