Chickpea soup retains its primacy in Rome
In Rome, the remnants and artifacts of the ancient civilization are never more than a few steps away. So we live with the past. And like the stones and monuments, which today are the foundation of a modern city, the cooking of ancient Rome is at the core of contemporary cuisine. Many dishes we find on menus here can be traced back more than 2,000 years.
One of Rome's most enduring primi piatti (first courses including pastas, grains, and soups) is pasta e ceci, a thick soup with origins in antiquity. Romans pronounce the dish as one word: pasta-cheh-chee. In early Roman cuisine, beans and legumes of all kinds, and chickpeas in particular, were essential. (The family name of Cicero, one of the most revered writer-philosophers of the day, was derived from the word for chickpea.) In the Roman text "On Cookery " by Apicius, there are several chickpea preparations, including a stew, described in great detail.
Exactly when that chickpea stew became pasta e ceci is unknown. Pasta was introduced to the Italian peninsula after the 8th century. We can assume that it wasn't long after that cooks discovered the combinination of beans and grains -- in this case, pasta -- created a nourishing and sustaining meal.
This isn't just a Roman dish, however; you'll find it in other parts of Italy as well. The regional distinctions are in the consistency and the type of pasta. In the south pasta e ceci is prepared with long strands, like tagliatelli and spaghetti, and is served with a thick sauce of chickpeas. Northern cooks simmer the soup with short pasta. Here in Rome, approximately mid-peninsula, it's somewhere between the two: a very thick soup of chickpeas and pasta, either long strands that have been broken into thirds, or short shapes, flavored with garlic, fresh rosemary, and tomatoes (these were added after the discovery of the New World).
Taste a spoonful, and you can appreciate the culinary layers: first the meltingly tender chickpeas, then the pasta, which still has some bite, finally the sweet tomatoes. Something like turning a corner in Rome and discovering a new building near the ruins.
This is the fourth in an eight-part series on authentic Roman food by Cambridge-based writer Judith Barrett, who is living in Rome. Barrett is the author of "Fagioli," "Saved by Soup," and "Risotto." To read the other cooking lessons, go to boston.com/food. 