Lagane e Cicciari alla Lucana — Pasta and Chickpeas

Place the soaked, drained chickpeas in a large pot. Cover with plenty of cold, unsalted water. Add the rosemary sprig. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered for 1.5 to 2 hours. The chickpeas are done when they offer no resistance whatsoever at the centre — press one between two fingers; it should collapse without effort.

Remove the rosemary sprig. Season the cooking liquid with salt. Do not drain: the chickpea cooking liquid is the pasta-cooking medium and, ultimately, the sauce. Ladle off and reserve any excess liquid so that approximately 1.2 litres remains in the pot with the chickpeas.

Make the lagane dough: mound the 00 flour on the work surface and form a well. Add the warm water gradually, incorporating the flour from the inside out. Knead firmly for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, uniform, and no longer sticky. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it springs back slowly — but not immediately — when pressed with a thumb.

Roll the rested dough to a thickness of 2 to 3 mm. Cut into wide, irregular strips of 2 to 3 cm across — no ruler, no uniformity: the irregularity is structural to the dish. Dust lightly with flour to prevent sticking.

This is where the dish lives or dies. Bring the chickpea cooking liquid to a rolling boil. Add the lagane strips directly into the chickpea pot — not into fresh water. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent the strips from clumping, for 8 to 12 minutes. As the pasta cooks, its starch is released into the already-starchy chickpea broth: the liquid must thicken visibly to a dense, porridge-like consistency that coats the back of a spoon heavily and holds the pasta and chickpeas in suspension. If the mass is too loose, continue cooking; if it threatens to catch on the bottom, add a ladleful of the reserved chickpea liquid. In the final 3 to 4 minutes, fold in the cooked chickpeas to warm through.

In a small pan, warm the olive oil over low heat. Add the crushed garlic and crumbled chilli. Sauté briefly — no more than 1 to 2 minutes — until the garlic is fragrant and just beginning to colour at the edges. Do not allow it to brown. The oil should smell of garlic and chilli without any bitterness.

Remove the garlic cloves. Spoon the lagane e cicciari into deep bowls. Pour the chilli oil over each portion in a thin thread. The finished dish should be dense enough that a spoon drawn through it leaves a momentary channel before the mass closes in — not soup, not dry pasta: a unified, porridge-like whole. Serve immediately.