Chickpeas in Tomato Sauce
One of my favorite cookbook authors is Geraldene Holt. She wrote the seminal classic on country cooking called ‘French Country Kitchen’. This is a variation of her recipe for white beans in tomato sauce.
Chickpeas stewed in tomato sauce is a popular flavor combination in Provence. I added chunks of homemade espelette sausages I had leftover from a sausage-making experiment. You could use spicy Italian sausages or even Moroccan merguez.
Chickpeas in Tomato Sauce
PREP: 10 minutes | COOK: 1 hour 50 minutes | SERVES: 4
cooking chickpeas (see notes)
1 cup raw chickpeas
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 quart cold water plus more for cooking
Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 sweet onion chopped
2 cloves garlic mashed
28 ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped basil leaves
1 pinch sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 sweet onion chopped finely
2 cloves garlic sliced thinly
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 splash red wine (optional)
2 teaspoons Piment d’Ville (see notes)
4 espelette sausages (see variations)
1 teaspoon of cumin (optional)
For the chickpeas, Put the chickpeas into a clean quart-sized glass jar with the baking soda and water. Let sit overnight. Drain the liquid off and rinse the chickpeas well in several changes of water. Put into a small saucepot and cover by 2 inches with cold water. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. The older your dried chickpeas are the longer they take to cook.
For the Tomato Sauce, Saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Hand crushed San Marzano tomatoes and add to onions. Add basil and sugar then simmer for 30 minutes.
Puree everything through a food mill. If you do not have a food mill then use a blender very quickly at low speed, You do not want to aerate it too much. Stir in butter and adjust seasonings to your taste.
To Finish, Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion, garlic, and thyme until softened, about 5 minutes. Pour in about 2 tablespoons of red wine and add the raw sausages. Cover, and reduce the heat to medium and let cook until the sausage firms up, about 5 minutes. Add the chickpeas and 2 cups of tomato sauce and let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sausages are fully cooked.
Notes: Cooking chickpeas at home is easy to do but feel free to substitute 1 can of cooked chickpeas if you prefer.
Here’s my video for cooking chickpeas.
Piment d’Ville is an American grown Espelette powder from California.
Variations:
Try substituting white beans for the chickpeas.
Use spicy Italian sausages or even Merguez in place of espelette sausages.
Crack a couple of eggs over the finished chickpeas.
More Chickpea Recipes