Quick and easy pasta dish. Vegan pasta with garbanzo beans Flavors of garlic and chilli flakes and rosemary takes the dish to a new level. Simple and nutritious.
This time last year, we had started our house hunting season. It was definitely a stressful time of the year, since there were so many things to attend to. I am glad it is all behind us and we are settled down fully in the new house.
Sonshine has made a lot of friends in the neighborhood, we have hosted many a parties at home, the house is filled with laughs, cheer and occasional shouts (to get things done; but that is mom just being exceptionally impatient <rolling my eyes>).
Yes, I am guilty of totally avoiding my blog for quite a while now, but life just got in the way. First it was the move, then it was the settling down part, then I got a full time job (work-from-home) which in itself is a blessing. So, this blog took a backstage.
But enough is enough! I have to restart somewhere; get out of my comfort zone, blog and share a recipe! Yes! Today seems like a good day for that!
Last year, while my schedule was as crazy as it can get, I relied on a lot of pasta dishes to help me out during meal times. The pasta with garbanzo beans is one such meal that I made over and over again. When I found a recipe for pasta with garbanzo beans in the book (Pasta by Eric Treuille & Anna Del Conte) I was super happy. It felt like an hearty all encompassing meal.
This book was suggested by a friend of ours. Sonshine loved the Pasta Puttanesca they made when we visited them. They had followed the recipe from the book and recommended that we try other recipes from the book.
This book was my first "technical" book to pasta recipes. I never used to get the pasta dishes right when I made them back when I did not have the knowledge about cooking pasta. This book does break down the science behind good pasta dish into simpler terms. The book also explains what sauce goes with what type of pasta, and there are a lot of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options as well.
I have tried so many recipes from the book and not one has disappointed me. I will recommend this book to all - even if you are ardent pasta fan or an occasional pasta eater.
This is a simple recipe for a novice cook, or for your tween/teen who is venturing to college and you want to arm them with some simple recipes. There is no elaborate cooking skills involved. Just use the freshest possible ingredients. It is the combination of the flavors that enhance the dish and not special cooking skills. When Sonshine is ready for his cooking lesson, I am sure this is something I plan to teach him. And since it comes together in such a simple manner and in matter of minutes, this will be a great addition to your busy-day-recipe-repertoire.
The original recipe recommends fresh rosemary, but most of the time, I have used dried rosemary and there have been occasions, when I have run out of dried rosemary and I have used thyme as well. A quick note - one more change I did was that I reduced the recommended quantity of pasta from the original recipe. The original recipe used 1 lb of pasta and I have used about 0.7lb pasta.
And you know me, I try to add greens to everything possible. I did not want to chop greens this time.
Enter micro greens !
On a side note, I love micro greens in my smoothies (try this Spinach Berry Smoothie) and on avocado toast.
These micro greens are lovely - add a dash of color and are potent house of micro nutrients as well. So, go for it!
Pasta With Garbanzo Beans - Recipe Notes
- Cook the pasta al dente and use a genrous amount of salt while cooking the pasta. Follow directions on the package for al dente pasta.
- If you are following a gluten free diet, you can definitely try this dish using your favorite gluten free pasta.
- For this recipe large tube pasta work well - Penne, rigatoni and conchigele
- You can use dried rosemary if you do not have the fresh herb. ( I have used thyme as well when I have run out of rosemary.)
- You can either use canned garbanzo beans or cooked garbanzo beans as well.
- The recipe is adapted from Pasta by Eric Treuille & Anna Del Conte.
Pasta with Garbanzo Beans
Ingredients
- 4 cups pasta; cooked al dente
- 3 tbsp virgin olive oil
- 4 large 10-15 grams garlic cloves; finely chopped
- ½ tsp red chilli flakes use more for extra heat
- 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary OR 1 tsp dried rosemary crumbled
- 1- 14 oz can garbanzo beans ; drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 oz micro greens optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water seasoned with generous amount of salt.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic, red chilli flakes, and rosemary and fry for a few minutes until fragrant.
- Add the drained and rinsed garbanzo beans and cook well on high heat for about 3-4 minutes.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain the pasta, but reserve about a ¼-1/2 cup of pasta water.
- Add the pasta and chopped parsley to the skillet and toss well to coat. If it gets too dry, add enough of the reserved pasta water.
- Toss in the micro greens if using.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Vicki says
How many servings does this make and how much dry pasta - 1 cup? 2 cups?