Chickpea Soup: The Best Italian Comfort Soup EVER

Well dear readers, I'm thinking about doing a cookbook. But when I looked over my recipes, I realized I was missing a chickpea soup recipe, the kind you find in Italy. Then the other day, lo and behold, Holly, my yoga teacher said, "I'm coming over and we are going to make chickpea soup." I don't usually argue with Holly, and I didn't this time either. She based her soup on a Marcella Hazan recipe she found online, but of course, we modified and simplified it a bit. The results were simply astoundingly delicious. We made it on a cold winter's day, and it was the most perfect heartwarming, stomach-filling, soul-satisfying soup you can imagine. Chickpea Soup Ingredients: 4 whole cloves garlic ½ cup olive oil 1 large can (14 ounces) whole tomatoes Fresh rosemary (a few sprigs) 2½ cups drained chickpeas (canned or soaked) 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth* 1 cup Arborio rice Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste Red pepper flakes (optional) Romano cheese for sprinkling on top Directions: 1. In a large soup pot, gently sauté the whole garlic cloves in the olive oil. 2. Remove the pot from the stove until the garlic stops bubbling then add the can of whole tomatoes (letting the oil cool a bit prevents a kitchen accident). Gently mash the tomatoes to release the juices and get the process of breaking down the tomatoes started. Cook on low heat for 20 to 25 minutes. 3. Take the leaves off the rosemary twig and add to the tomatoes. Also add the chickpeas. Heat ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news