I am always amazed by how so few ingredients, can be so satisfying.
For example Crema di ceci, (cream of garbanzo or chickpea soup) ingredients;
Garbanzo beans, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt, pepper, stop.
How easy is that? Not to mention cheap. This is the beauty of Italian cuisine, simple fresh, local ingredients.
I never really liked beans that much before, but now I’m starting to appreciate them more. They just need a little advanced planning, for soaking the beans and then throw the ingredients together, boil and blend.
This was a recipe from a Tuscan cookbook; in Umbria beans are used frequently as well.
I like ceci beans because they are rich, satisfying, and have a nice, slightly granular texture to them.
Made a classic bruschetta (toasted, unsalted, Umbrian bread with olive oil from Spello, then added your own dose of salt) to accompany the soup.
The suggested pairing with this soup, was medium to intense white, like a Pitigliano, I had to opt for local wine. Instead we enjoyed a glass of Aliara. Aliara is a new discovery for me, from my friend Luciano’s winery.
That afternoon I had taken a drive out to Gualdo Cattaneo, to run an errand, and decided to stop by the winery Cesarini Sartori since I was out that way. My friend Dwight had mentioned that he wanted a Rosso Bastardo tee shirt so that was my initial excuse for going. In the end I loaded up the car with a case of Aliara, a Sagrantino rosato (rosé), a bottle of Rosso Bastardo, an apron and finally the tee shirt!
Aliara is a blend of two native grapes, Trebbiano and Pecorino.
Pecorino’s roots are primarily from the Marche region, though grows all over central Italy. It’s an ancient Italian varietal, and was recorded to have been cultivated in the province of Ancona since 1870. They called it Uva delle pecore (grape of the sheep). Sheepherders moved their herds from season to season, along the way, the sheep would stop and eat these grapes from the wild vines, so the story is told. Pecorino is thought to come from the Trebbiano grape family.
I like Pecorino because it tends to have good mineral notes, nice acidity and relatively good structure. It’s been the “in” Italian white for the past year now and is often offered as an aperitivo.
By the way Pecorino means sheep in Italian, oh and it also is a cheese, remember to specify your Pecorino or you might end up with cheese when you really wanted wine. So it’s a grape, it’s a wine; it’s a cheese and an animal!
So my simple recipe got a little complex with all the wine details, but that’s the beauty of it right?
