Water and flour, the simplest dough. The ancient Greeks already made strips of pasta that they called lagaron.

Several centuries later, the flour was replaced by durum wheat flour and those pasta strips, rigorously air dried, became the lagane, the protagonists, in combination with chickpeas, of one of the main dishes of Campania cuisine, and Cilento particularly.

The dried chickpeas - the Cicerale ones are ideal- need to be soaked 24 hours before with abundant water and a pinch of baking soda. The mixture is made with water, semolina and salt for the lagane until forming a ball. Roll out the dough so that you can make strips of 15-18 cm in length and about 2.5 in width, which are left to dry for about one hour.

lagane e ceci

Cook a peeled and slightly squashed garlic clove with 2,3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for one minute. Then add a handful of cherry tomatoes washed and cut in halves. Allow to flavour, then add the chickpeas which need to brown for one minute, before adding two glasses of water, letting the chickpeas stew for another 20 minutes.

After having set aside two tablespoons of whole chickpeas, add another glass of water and let it cook for ten more minutes. It is advised to use a large pot, so that you can add the lagane pasta to the watery mixture, letting cook for another three-four minutes on low heat, making sure that the soup wraps the lagane and do not stir it, but turn the pot. Few more minutes in order for the pasta to firm, turn it once, add salt if needed and let it cook for another minute. When cooked, add the chickpeas set apart, a little raw olive oil and an ancient, tasty dish is served to the table, which is also a perfect example of Mediterranean diet.