Pasta e Ceci

During the day on Saturday we had a nice break from the rain and cold; but, it came back just in time for dinner. It was a good night for some comfort and a good night to join Meeta over at What's for Lunch Honey and her monthly mingle - comfort food!

As I mentioned earlier in the week we are using up everything in the house - sort of a pre-spring cleaning. So, we are limited as to what we have on hand. I have been dying to make this lovely soup, recipe from one of Jamie Oliver's books, and lucky for us we have everything in the house. As well, it is pure comfort on a cold and rainy night!

Pasta e Ceci is like a peasant dish - simple, hardy, very easy and full of flavor - onions, garlic, a small amount of celery, chickpeas and a little pasta. If you like chickpeas this soup is for you. We added a loaf of our favorite crusty french bread and opened up a bottle of Italian wine to compliment it (ever since we had a FANTASTIC bottle of Italian wine at Delfina, we have been lushing after them). Was a very nice and cozy evening.

Chickpea Stew

Since dinner was such a wreck a couple nights ago I decided to make something with one of L.'s favorite ingredients ... the chick pea! I was inspired by a recipe in Food & Wine. I did alter it a little since I did not have bay leafs nor raisins. Regardless, it was wonderful not to mention ... very easy and quick! I wanted to spice it up so I sauteed some french Portuguese Peppers with olive oil and then sprinkled salt over them.

Everything but the kitchen sink ...

PASTA! It took us almost 18 hours to get back from the big apple - nothing in the house except, 1 eggplant, 1 red-pepper, some shallots, garlic, frozen pesto, pasta and the token cans of chickpeas! This is what we came up with - Roasted Veggies tossed with warm pasta and a splash of Pesto! As well as a fantastic bottle of Vino - 2006 Castano Monastrel (Organic)! (see side notes)

Saturday Night ....... We are home

at least for a couple days! While we love being in Tahoe with our friends, E. & W., it was nice to come home. I was itching to get into the kitchen and L. was dying for a home-cooked meal! Did not have much in the cupboards so I had to be creative with what we had.... mozzarella cheese, whole wheat pasta, some white wine .... Did pick up some Heirlooms on the way home so we were set in the salad department. Threw together a pasta dish with some Roasted Red Peppers & Fresh chickpeas (kind of .. they had been frozen before leaving). Opened a bottle of Rose that we were saving to taste - terrible, well, not terrible but not what we were craving!

Chickpea Salad

Simple dinner of homemade green garlic hummus, warmed pitas (I am looking for a recipe, anyone??) and a simple Chickpea Salad. Light & refreshing!

Tuesday's Dinner

I did not feel like going to the market today so I had to get creative with what we had in the house, after a long weekend away, it was not much! I was inspired by BF's Portuguese background as well as my Basque background - both his mother and my grandmother use to use a lot of chickpeas in their houses and we have come to love them! Decided to throw in some secret seasons as well as some of the Portuguese Chorizo we won at the auction a couple weeks ago & why not some spinach I had picked up during the day - this is what we got! Enjoyed it with a wonderful glass of 2005 Blackwing Shiraz - super delicious!!! Dessert was left over frozen yogurt from last week as well as some strawberries I picked up. Enjoy!