Everyone has their own comfort food. For me, its chickpeas over egg noodle bow ties.

I don’t actually know if this dish is “peasant style.” As a child, I only knew the meal as “chickpeas.” But all cooked up, they feel like peasant food, and for the price of somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 a serving, its hard to argue this isn’t peasant food.

The chickpeas are cooked in olive oil and garlic and then tossed over pasta. My preference is for little mini bow ties. Since they are about the size of chickpea, they match up together well.

My mother often made chickpeas and bow ties for my brother and I and it became one of the first meals I learned to cook on my own. I would have eaten them every night.

As an adult, I’ve modified the recipe on occasion. I’ll add carrots and/or peas and/or artichokes. I’ve augmented the chickpeas with tomato sauce. I’ve eaten them without the pasta, as a side dish.

A few years ago in Italy, my cousins produced a branch of the chickpea bush. We were all sitting around in the small yard drinking wine. We then beat the chickpea branches, wrapped in a cloth, with a large wooden log. The force pushed the chickpeas, then hard as pebbles, out of the papery shells. They collected in the cloth, and then afterward were cleaned. The following night we had chickpeas for dinner.

Chickpeas
Garlic glove
Olive Oil
Parsley
Box of egg noodle mini bow ties

Mince the garlic. Lightly heat in the olive oil. Rinse the chickpeas and add to the garlic. Add parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Live dangerously and add a pat of butter. Cook the chickpeas until they soften. Toss over noodles.

Optional: add peas, carrots or artichoke hearts.

Lastly, these photos were shot on 35mm film with a Minolta X-GA.