Soup – Combining the Smoothness of Chickpeas with the Highlights of Seafood: Passata di Ceci con Scampetti di Manfredonia e Cannolicchi

Chickpeas are loved the world over and I for one am enamoured of their little round shape … but … if you think about it, a lot of recipes seem to require the smashing up of cooked chickpeas.  Think hummus in the Middle East … think chole and dhal in the Indian Subcontinent.  In Italy, chickpeas are put through the mill to make thick soups: passata di ceci.  It became the hip thing to add seafood to the passata di ceci (a purée of chickpeas) about twenty odd years ago and a jolly good idea too.  Another winner is saltcod on a purée of chickpeas.  I was inspired to make the following dish last week and hope you will enjoy reading about it.  I made it up as I went along … and it “shows” … but I think all of us who love cooking also like experimenting.
Cook the chickpeas until they are tender.

These are scampetti di Manfredonia … i.e. fresh scampi from Puglia.  They were tiny little things just like Thumbolina.  I wanted to use their heads to make a little stock and their bodies to add to the passata di ceci.

Beautiful colour aren’t they … So … here are their heads in a pan … And here are their bodies left behind. Turn on the heat and very soon the shells of these scampetti will start smoking … At which point, it’s a good idea to add some water … A teaspoon of tomato paste … And a pinch of salt.  Stir.  You could even add a glass of wine if you liked … After a while it starts to “froth” a little … that’s okay, let it.  Turn down the heat and let it simmer.  I espy something green in there … most likely a bayleaf. And these were some razor clams that I couldn’t resist buying.  They were still alive, by the way. Time to get started on the passata.  Drain the chickpeas … Place them in a food processor. Add the chickpeas first and then … add the fish stock you were making with the scampi shells. Blitz until you get a smooth cream. Cook some garlic and a few peppercorns in a saucepan with plenty of good olive oil. Add the chickpeas that were blitzed in the food processor … Turn the heat on and simmer.  Simmer for about 5 minutes or as long as it takes for the passata to gain some taste. When you think you are ready to sit down and eat … add the scampetti to the passata …. And immediately afterwards add a handful or two of the razor clams. Stir for about 1-2 minutes … do not overcook otherwise the scampi will go all rubbery. The only herbs I could find in a hurry on my balcony was rosemary.  But I added some anyway, it did the trick.  Chickpea passata definitely needs herbs!Turn the heat off.  Add a couple of twists of pepper.
Add a few (not too many!) drops of lemon juice. And here it is … ready to serve.

But before you do serve … and if it doesn’t put you off … feel free to add some of the live razor clams to this seafood passata di ceci. So … here we are.  Passata di ceci with both scampi and razor clams in the soup (cooked) and raw razor clams on the side.  A drizzle of olive oil and some chilli flakes if you fancy them … Buon appetito.  And it’s a bit messy too.  The scampi were far too tiny to de-shell and so you  pop them into your mouth, chomp away, and then spit out the shell when you’ve finished …End result, see what I  mean?

Maybe not “elegant” … but … bloody good is how I would describe it!  But then I’m biased …

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