richard This is traditionally a humble peasant dish designed to use up stale bread and lovelorn broken bits of pasta and was ironically published in the current edition of Waitrose Food Magazine. Considering the imminent global economic melt down it is of course prescient as we’ll all be peasants soon … or at least those who have a bit of land or are wealthy enough to climb into their Porsche Cayenne, flee the UK and head down to the south of France. The rest of us will be left behind in the burning cities, reduced to looting Costcutter, giving blow jobs for scraps, and battling with plague-ridden mutant squirrels. I can hardly wait.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Skill level: Easy although multi-staged
Serves: 2 greedy people
Ingredients
- pasta – small shapes/broken pieces- 275g
- chick peas – 400g tin
- 1 onion – sliced
- bread crumbs – 75g
- garlic – 2 cloves – crushed
- fresh rosemary – finely chopped – 1 tbsp
- vegetable stock – 400ml
- basil leaves – a few
- olive oil
- s & p
Cook the pasta until al dente and set aside.
Meanwhile, fry the onions with the rosemary for 5 minutes until nicely caramelised. Season and put aside.
Fry the bread crumbs with the garlic for a few minutes until golden and crispy. Season and put to one side.
Finally cook the chick peas in the stock until warmed through.
Now construct your dish …
Put your pasta in large warmed bowls and ladle over the chick peas and stock. Put the onions on top of this and then sprinkle over the bread crumbs.
Verdict: Very good indeed. The pasta and chick peas work well together, and then you have the added bonus of the sweet onions and crunchy salty breadcrumbs. Those peasants live like kings. Not too sure why it is called ‘Thunder and Lightning’.
Drink: Water from the village well.
Entertainment: A gentle and enjoyable viewing of ‘Springwatch’. Simon’s seen wild cats and ospreys.
Hi
The dish looks great and I might try it on the weekend. I would probably add some chillie flakes.