Provencal Chickpea Soup (Soupo de Cece)
My version is based on J.B. Reboul's classic on Provencal cuisine, La Cuisinière Provençale. Here, you can find his recipe for chickpea soup, Soupo de Cece. The recipe is easy to master and is surprisingly rich and luxurious tasting. Even my 9-year-old son is convinced it has cream in it.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 2 quarts cool water
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper or Espelette or nothing
- 2 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Optional:
- 2 leeks washed well and diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 15 oz chickpeas canned
Instructions
- Put chickpea flour, water, herbes, cumin, Aleppo, salt, pepper, and oil into a blender and blend until smooth, about 15 seconds. Pour the contents into a Dutch oven and heat slowly over low to medium heat until hot, about 30 minutes, stirring often. Adjust seasoning to your taste.
Optional:
- For the leeks, slowly cook the washed leeks in olive oil over a low flame at a grandmotherly pace until they almost melt, about 30 minutes. Add to soup. For the chickpeas, open the can and add both the liquid and the chickpeas.
Serving:
- This lovely soup lends itself to creative garnishing. Everything from croutons fried in olive oil to small juliennes of Bayonne ham works well — experiment with what you like.
Notes
Tip: Use a whisk to stir the soup to keep it from scorching on the bottom.
Tip 2: Nothing is worse than eating gritty leeks, but I learned a trick for cleaning them easily. Dice the leeks and cover them with cold water in a large bowl. Add one (1) tablespoon of salt and agitate the water. The salt acts as an abrasive, and the dirt and sand will settle to the bottom of the bowl. With a slotted spoon, scoop the leeks out of the water. Do not pour the leeks and water through a strainer because you would just be pouring the sand back over the leeks.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!