Chickpea and pasta soup with rosemary

A fast pantry-friendly soup must be tried. There's a rule or something. Plus, it's still unseasonably, unreasonably cold here.

The original recipe takes a tad longer to prepare, since it has you make a tasty-looking broth of leeks, carrots, rosemary and thyme. Since I had already made such a broth the previous day, I skipped ahead and was able to make this over the lunch hour along with cheese scones on the side.

Chickpea and pasta soup with rosemary

Adapted from “Sunday Soup” by Betty Rosbottom, which is organized seasonally with more than enough recipes to get you through a year of Sundays.

Ingredients

15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, divided

¼ cup water

1 14½-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups wicked good broth

1 cup small pasta like ditalini

3 cups fresh spinach leaves

Shaved  Parmesan cheese

Method

Combine ½ cup drained chickpeas with ¼ cup water in food processor. Puree well. Add pureed chickpeas, remaining chickpeas, tomatoes, rosemary, salt, broth and pasta in a large Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer and cook 8 minutes, stirring often, until pasta is cooked through. Stir in spinach just until wilted. Serve with shaved Parmesan for garnish.

Rating: Hearty and tasty. Super fast to fix if you've got good broth on hand. It's a versatile formula, too. Sub in cooked cannellini beans if that's what you've got, and swap in arugula or baby kale leaves for the spinach.