Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe

Orecchiette cooked in chickpea and tomato sauce (pictured above)

Pasta is a sacred thing and this method of cooking it in the sauce is certainly not common. My colleague Gitai Fisher, who might as well be Italian, went so far as to say that it’s not just cheating, it’s blasphemy. For the sauce, I’ve added North African touches to Italian puttanesca. Gitai was of the opinion that this, too, was cheating. There’s no pleasing some people.

Prep 20 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4

50ml olive oil, plus 2 tbsp extra to serve
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and patted dry 
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
¾ tbsp tomato paste
Salt and black pepper
40g parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 tsp lemon zest
4 tbsp baby capers
80g good-quality green olives, pitted and roughly torn
250g cherry tomatoes
2 tsp caster sugar
½ tbsp caraway seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
250g dried orecchiette
500ml vegetable stock

Put the first six ingredients and two teaspoons of salt in a large saute pan for which you have a lid, then put it on a medium heat and fry gently for eight minutes, stirring often, until the chickpeas are slightly crisp. Transfer a third of the chickpeas to a small bowl, to use as a garnish.

In a second bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers and olives, then add two-thirds of this mix to the saute pan with the cherry tomatoes, sugar and caraway seeds, and cook for two minutes more, stirring often.

Add the pasta, stock and 200ml water, and bring up to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium, cover with a lid and leave to cook, undisturbed, for 12-14 minutes, until the pasta is al dente.

Stir in the remaining parsley mixture, drizzle with the remaining two tablespoons of oil, and garnish with the fried chickpeas and a good grind of pepper.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/21/yotam-ottolenghi-quick-flan-fish-pie-pasta-recipes