Frizzled Chickpeas... But Make It Pasta

Turning a beany side into a smashing main.

You know the setup: it’s 9pm, don’t want to cook, don’t want to order in, don’t want to be unhealthy, don’t want to do anything. The pantry is looking dire. Is it possible to make dinner out of rice crackers? But amidst the dreariness is a can of beans. And pasta. And… most importantly… potential!

I won’t go down this path again because it was just a few newsletters ago that I was moaning about the hardships of late night cooking laziness. We all get it. We’ve all been there. We all understand the pain. I’m here to say there’s a neat new recipe in my quiver: frizzled chickpea pasta.

First and foremost, there’s nothing terribly new about adding chickpeas to pasta. I don’t deserve a trophy; although, I will always accept one tbh. But I’m patting myself on the back for adapting a tasty side dish into a full-fledged rigatoni dinner. It appears that at long last I’m developing… instinct? Is that bad to admit? Does this affect my authority?

It all started a few weeks ago when Alison Roman published a how-to video for her “Frizzled chickpeas and onions with feta and oregano,” a recipe from Nothing Fancy that I’d eyed for months and months but had never actually made. It’s amazing what fresh visuals can do for motivation. Once the video dropped, I fast tracked the Frizzle.

Cut to the first weekend in July. My wonderful friends Neil and Nate had invited me and some friends to go spend a few days at their house in the Hamptons, and naturally I couldn’t resist. Land of Ina Garten? I was in.

Unsurprisingly, my friends and I followed in the footsteps of The Barefoot Contessa herself and visited various farm stands and local markets of the Hamptons, cobbling together a vegetable-forward menu that would be perfect for the peak of summer. There was a tomato tart (so outstanding it will most likely the subject of its own newsletter very soon), a dilly bowl of couscous, and, of course, the frizzled chickpeas. At last, their time had come.

The recipe was extremely simple: sauté onions until they soften, then add chickpeas and garlic and fry for 15 minutes until they’re somewhere between crispy and luscious. Toss with herbs and feta. Done. A perfect summer side dish — hearty from the beans, tangy from the feta, and bright from the herbs. It would be going into the rotation.

Frizzled chickpeas in the Hamptons.

And so when I peered into my pantry last night and spotted the can of garbanzos, I immediately thought of the frizzled chickpeas and onions. I was honestly looking for an excuse to make the recipe again, but I had doubts about how it could hold up as a full-on main dish for my boyfriend and I. Maybe… just maybe… it could be a pasta.

Off to work I went: I diced up an onion and, since it was languishing in the fridge, a bulb of fennel. I tossed them both into my Dutch oven where half a cup of olive oil was heating up. Over the course of the next eight minutes or so, I gently sautéed these aromatics until they were soft and just beginning to brown, as per the Frizzle directions.

Before adding the chickpeas, I took a step that quite frankly I was surprised wasn’t in the original recipe: I added two anchovy filets and stirred them in the oil until they dissolved. The scents emanating from the pot assured me I was on the right track.

Next went in a full can of drained and rinsed chickpeas as well as some smashed garlic. I only added one can as opposed to the two that Alison Roman calls for because I didn’t want to over-chickpea the pasta. Second, I added about three extra garlic cloves because I believe the starchiness of pasta can dull flavors, especially in a sauceless dish like this. Better to amp up the garlic flavor than have it get lost under a pile of rigatoni.

Nevertheless, I cooked the chickpeas for about 15 minutes, as per the recipe, and when everything seemed texturally proper, I dumped in some freshly cooked pasta. I then made another diversion by swapping out feta for parmesan — in part because it’s easier on my boyfriend’s lactose intolerant stomach. But also because I felt the parm would lend a creamier texture than feta.

Given that this pasta had no real sauce, I added some extra olive oil to lube everything up and keep it from growing too dry. I contemplated adding pasta water, and perhaps next time I actually will, but I’m happy to report that the oil did what it needed to do.

Also happy to report that the frizzled chickpeas were a smashing success in their graduation to a pasta dish (which should come as no surprise since garbanzos and chickpeas are such a classic combination). The onions offered up a sweet backdrop to the beans’ savory and hearty flavors while the parmesan and anchovy gave the dish an all important umami boost. I contemplated adding dill and lemon to the proceedings, but I decided to hold off so the garbanzos could shine in all their glory. Let them have a moment! This was the rare instance where I didn’t feel I needed acid or herbaceous notes. BUT not opposed to them next time.

Notably, I did experiment with capers in my serving of pasta, and I can assure you their briny pops of flavor were everything. I am not someone who thinks capers are an auto-play — their aggressive bite actually overpowers way too many things for my taste — but here they were absolutely perfect. Highly recommend but also totally optional. All in all, this was a massive weeknight success. The entire endeavor took only about thirty minutes, and the reviews were stellar.

What side dishes have you upgraded to a pasta main? What did you do to make it work?