Skip to main content

Lighten up.

I don't know why we eat heavy food in summer. Yes, I do: Christmas. They should move it to July. The northern hemisphere might object, but I say to the northern hemisphere: you try eating turkey on a forty degree day. And that's our celsius forty, not your fahrenheit.

Fortunately Christmas was only mid-twenties this year so squeezing in the baked ham and the stuffed chicken and the plum pudding with brandy butter sauce wasn't as difficult as it might otherwise have been. But it is still nice to move on to cleaner food; salads and light pasta dishes and the like.

This is a pasta dish I made the other night.

Rigatoni with tomato, herbs and chick peas.

Chop an onion finely and toss it into a pot with a can of diced tomatoes. Warm through gently. Toss in half a can of chick peas. (I used Durra brand 7mm chickpeas - smaller, sweeter and softer than most. Available at the new food store at Sydney Road and Albion Street.)

Now run around the garden and gather herbs. In my case, I picked a leaf or two of basil and oregano and a little more of parsley. Chop and toss them in. A good amount of ground black pepper, but no salt. Half a teaspoon of sugar.

Boil up another pot and cook half a pack of rigatoni. Drain and serve with the sauce. Top with cheese if you wish.

Comments

  1. I've been really using chickpeas a lot lately. This recipe sounds perfect for a quick dinner and light on the belly *even in our 19 degree days..19 F that is*

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've done Thanksgiving buffets for forty in Hawaii; close enough to your temperatures. It was rough.

    Everyone ate anyway. Go figure.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Breadchick, my last three or four recipes on this blog have included chickpeas. No editor to tell me not to!

    Julie, perhaps it is that you're a great cook.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alas and alack, my dear wife can't stand chickpeas or anything made from them. Maybe borlotti beans for us.

    Just thinking out aloud here, but wouldn't it be better to use all the chickpeas and pasta and have a ready meal for later on. The dry pasta would be okay, but any open tins immediately disappear in our fridge and don't emerge again until colourful and fuzzy growth has occured.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just cant imagine just reading your post makes me starve to death. Excellent recipes you got here!

    ReplyDelete
  6. No reason why the whole can can't go in, Neil.

    Thank you, Health Insurance.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds so good, but it so simple! Might have to give this one a go one night.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anna, it's dead easy.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment