Name: Ditali and Ditalini: Chickpeas and Clams (Ditali con Ceci e Vongole)
Yield: Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 350 ml of the chickpea cooking liquor (if home-cooked – if canned, just use water); 500 g live clams; 7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; a decent pinch of crushed chilli flakes; a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped; 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red chilli (optional); 300 g cooked chickpeas (drained weight); 150 g ditali

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a starter

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Geometry of Pasta

By Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy

Published 2010

About

You need to start making the sauce about 10 minutes before your pasta is ready (just undercooked, probably a minute or so less than stated on the packet), so time yourself accordingly.

Ingredients

150 g ditali
300 g cooked chickpeas (drained weight)
350

Method

Finely purée three-quarters of the chickpeas with their liquid. Heat a wide frying pan (large enough for the clams to fit in a single layer, and with some space to spare). When very hot, add 6 tablespoons of the oil, the clams and garlic all at once. Fry until the garlic starts to colour, then add the chilli flakes and half the parsley for just a second or two before the puréed and whole chickp