Pasta With Chickpeas

This recipe came from "Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites" cookbook. The ingredients in this recipe are ones we have around all the time (and love!). We made it for dinner tonight, and it exceeded our expectations. YUM! If you like these ingredients, then I think you'll love it too. One of the neat things is that pureeing the chickpeas gives the sauce a wonderful, creamy texture.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups onions, finely chopped
• 2  large garlic cloves, minced
• 3  sprigs fresh rosemary (2 inches each)
• 2  teaspoons olive oil
• 4  cups fresh tomatoes, chopped (or 3 cups canned tomatoes or 28-ounce can, undrained)
• 3 1⁄2 cups chickpeas, cooked (or two 15 ounce cans)
•  salt
•  black pepper
• 1  lb pasta, short chunky
• 2⁄3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
•  fresh tomato, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a well-seasoned skillet or nonstick saucepan (I used a dutch oven, so I could puree the sauce right in the pan using my hand blender), and saute the onions, garlic and rosemary on low eat until the onions are soft - about 10 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes and half of the chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes.
3. Remove the rosemary springs and discard. If you have a hand blender, puree the mixture until smooth. Otherwise, use a blender. Be careful not to burn yourself.
4. Return the sauce to the pan (if you'd removed it for blending), add the remaining chickpeas, and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
6. The original recipe suggests tossing the pasta and sauce together for serving, but we served them separately.
7. Pass the feta and chopped tomatoes (if desired) at the table.