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Lagane e Ceci (Pasta & Chickpea Soup)

  Lagane e Ceci is a well-known southern Italian dish whose roots stem from ancient times when legumes were the staple ingredients, easily accessible with a very long shelf life.  Chickpeas, beans or lentils were alternated and cooked with hand made pasta, feeding the whole family.  This soup is made with dried chickpeas and hand-made ribbons of eggless pasta, but can also be made with  canned chickpeas which are just as good,  and  a short store-bought pasta like ditaletti. Mamma would make it this way when she was time poor.   We however preferred this soup with home-made pasta, rendering it more creamy. Lagane are believed to be the ancestors of today’s lasagne and the oldest form of pasta. The word lagane , like lasagna , comes from ancient Greece where it was used to describe a pasta made of flour and water, cooked on a stone, and then cut into strips. The Roman statesman  Cicero wrote about his passion for the Laganum  or laganas  and the Roman poet Horace, whose writings a
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Crostata di Cotogna (Quince Tart)


Quince Tart - made with LOVE

I held onto the last few quinces that weren't quite ripe for a rainy day, and such is it today.  The sweet aroma of the quinces in my kitchen told me that they were ripe and ready for my next recipe - Quince Tart.

What makes a good tart is nailing the pastry as well as having a filling that compliments the richness of the base. I encouraged my youngest daughter to assist me in making the tart. She was given  full reigns in making the base following the Artusi recipe I wrote about in my previous post -Crostata di Prugna (Plum Tart) while I set off stewing some quinces for the filling and slicing and roasting the rest for the topping.

My only instructions for her were.... put love into it and you will be guaranteed a great base!  With much tribulation and may I add lots of LOVE, she managed to pull off a great base for her first ever attempt.

The filling once stewed was cooked down to a jam consistency as per recipe found in Quince-Mela Cotogna.  The jam is poured into the baked base and decorated with slices of roasted quince.  Baked in a moderate oven, allowed to cool and dusted with icing sugar. The tart can also be eaten warm with a dollop of marscarpone cream cheese.

May I add that half the warm tart disappeared before it saw any cream cheese!




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