Sagne e Ceci
Sagne e ceci is a classic Abruzzese mountain soup of fresh eggless pasta diamonds cooked directly in a fragrant chickpea, rosemary, and garlic broth.
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
- 540 kcal
Equipment
- •Rolling pin
- •Large saucepan or Dutch oven
- •Wooden pasta board
- •Chef's knife
- •Immersion blender
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 540 kcal
- fat
- 16 g
- carbs
- 78 g
- fibre
- 11 g
- protein
- 18 g
- calories
- 540 kcal
Instructions
- 1
Tip the Solina flour and semolina onto a wooden board and make a deep well in the centre.
- 2
Pour the tepid water gradually into the well, mixing with a fork until a shaggy dough forms.
- 3
Knead firmly for eight minutes until the pasta dough is completely smooth, elastic, and pliable.
- 4
Cover the dough with an upturned bowl and let it rest at room temperature for twenty minutes.
- 5
Roll the rested dough out with a long rolling pin into a sheet roughly two millimetres thick.
- 6
Dust the sheet lightly with semolina, slice into strips, then cut diagonally into irregular short diamond shapes.
- 7
Warm the olive oil in a deep pot over medium-low heat with the crushed garlic, rosemary, and chilli flakes.
- 8
Cook gently for two minutes until the garlic softens and turns golden without browning excessively.
- 9
Pour in the cooked chickpeas and hot broth, bringing the mixture to a gentle, steady simmer.
- 10
Discard the rosemary sprig and blend two ladles of the chickpeas until creamy to enrich the broth.
- 11
Drop the fresh sagne straight into the simmering broth and cook for three minutes until tender.
- 12
Season with salt and cracked black pepper, rest for two minutes, and ladle into bowls with raw olive oil.
Chef's tips
Always cook the fresh pasta directly in the simmering chickpea broth so the surface starch thickens the soup naturally. Keep a small pan of hot water or extra broth nearby, as handmade sagne absorbs liquid rapidly as it sits.
Ingredient substitutions
- Solina wheat flour → standard Italian tipo 0 plain flour combined with the fine semolina
- fresh rosemary → a small pinch of dried wild mountain savory (santoreggia), common in parts of Abruzzo
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days, noting that the pasta will continue to soften.
Reheating
Reheat gently in a saucepan over low heat, stirring in a few tablespoons of boiling water to loosen the thick broth.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Boiling the pasta separately in plain water, which strips away the starchy creaminess essential to the final broth.
- •Allowing the garlic or rosemary to scorch in the hot oil, turning the delicate broth unpleasantly bitter.
- •Letting the soup sit too long before serving, which causes the pasta ribbons to turn soggy and drink all the broth.
Serving suggestions
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