Zuppa di Ceci e Cicorielle

Name: Zuppa di Ceci e Cicorielle
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Pugliese
Ingredients: 300 g dried chickpeas; 500 g cicorielle; 60 ml Extra virgin olive oil; 2 cloves Garlic; 1 leaf Bay leaf; 1 piece dried red chilli; 1 tsp Fine sea salt; 4 slices pane di altamura

A comforting Pugliese winter soup combining tender chickpeas and pleasantly bitter wild chicory greens in a light broth with rich olive oil.

🇮🇹Italy· Apulia

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 60 min
Total: 80 min
Servings: 4
Difficulty: Easy
Calories: 460 kcal

Ingredients

0 of 8 gathered

Servings

300 g dried chickpeas — soaked in cold water for 12 hours
500 g cicorielle — wild field chicory, trimmed and washed thoroughly
60 ml Extra virgin olive oil — robust Pugliese variety, plus extra to finish
2 cloves Garlic — peeled and lightly crushed
1 leaf Bay leaf — dried
1 piece dried red chilli — crumbled
1 tsp Fine sea salt — to taste
4 slices pane di altamura — thickly sliced and toasted

Equipment

•Large heavy-bottomed pot
•Colander
•Terracotta soup bowls
•Ladle
•Chef knife

Nutrition

Per serving, approximate

Calories: 460 kcal
fat: 16 g
carbs: 58 g
fibre: 14 g
protein: 18 g
calories: 460 kcal

Instructions

1
Drain the soaked chickpeas and rinse them under cold running water.
2
Place the chickpeas in a pot, cover with water, add the bay leaf, and simmer gently for forty-five minutes until tender.
3
Wash the trimmed cicorielle repeatedly in fresh cold water to remove all garden grit.
4
Blanch the chicory in a separate pot of salted boiling water for five minutes until tender.
5
Drain the blanched chicory thoroughly in a colander, pressing lightly with a spoon to remove excess water.
6
Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sizzle the crushed garlic and crumbled chilli for one minute.
7
Add the drained cicorielle to the pot and sauté for two minutes until coated with fragrant oil.
8
Pour in the cooked chickpeas along with two ladles of their warm cooking liquor.
9
Simmer the soup gently over low heat for fifteen minutes to let the flavours marry together.
10
Season the broth with fine sea salt to taste and remove the garlic cloves.
11
Place a slice of toasted bread into the base of each warmed terracotta bowl.
12
Ladle the hot soup generously over the bread and finish with a rich drizzle of raw olive oil.

Chef's tips

Always reserve the chickpea cooking water because the starch gives the soup its silky body. If wild chicory tastes too bitter for your palate, blanching it in plenty of well-salted water reduces the astringency.

Ingredient substitutions

cicorielle (wild chicory) → cultivated chicory, dandelion greens or curly endive
pane di Altamura → crusty country sourdough or thick durum wheat bread

Storage

Store leftover soup without the bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Reheating

Reheat gently in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if too thick.

Common mistakes to avoid

•Discarding the nutrient-rich chickpea cooking liquor instead of using it as the soup base.
•Inadequately washing wild greens, which leaves gritty sediment in the bottom of the bowl.
•Boiling the soup vigorously at the end, which breaks down the chickpeas into mush.

Serving suggestions

Ladle hot over thick slices of toasted country bread in terracotta bowls.Finish with a generous swirl of peppery raw Pugliese extra virgin olive oil.Serve alongside pickled wild lampascioni (hyacinth bulbs) for an authentic inland spread.