This chickpea dip recipe makes a quick and easy dip or spread that’s perfect for entertaining. With creamy ricotta and bursts of sun-dried tomato flavour, it’s perfect for sharing over drinks or as a fuss-free starter.
A good chickpea dip is always welcome at the table, and this one couldn’t be simpler to make. A tin of chickpeas, a dollop of ricotta, a handful of rosemary and a few sun-dried tomatoes, and you’ve got something rather more delicious than the sum of its parts.
Quick to prepare and best served on garlicky toast, it’s the sort of thing that might not have made it into a Renaissance banquet, but would certainly have pleased the guests.
For this chickpea dip recipe, you can use dried chickpeas if you like, but tinned will save you the soaking and speed things up nicely.
Bartolomeo Platina, the Italian Renaissance writer credited with having written the first printed cookbook, was a big fan of this humble legume. He maintained that the water in which they are soaked and cooked was quite the tonic.
Amongst its many benefits, it’s good for the lungs, it detoxifies the liver, spleen and bladder, it breaks up kidney stones and eradicates pesky stomach worms. It is also good for the voice – would-be sopranos take note. And, if all that wasn’t enough, he believes it’s also an aphrodisiac.
The medicinal benefits of chickpeas are still being rigorously studied. It seems there may well actually be something to his Renaissance way of thinking. What’s not in doubt is the nutritional value of these little pulses.
They’re rich in, among other things, protein, fibre, folate, thiamine, vitamin B6 and magnesium.
And just think, if old Bart does turn out to be right on all fronts, they’ll also do wonders for your love life.
Chickpea dip with toast | Crema di ceci con toast
➤ SERVES: 4
➤ PREPARATION: 4 minutes
➤ COOKING: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
- 200g fresh ricotta
- 3-6 tbsp milk
- 8 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1 clove of garlic
- 8 slices of country bread or ciabatta, to serve
Method:
- Open and drain the chickpeas. Place the contents into a food processor. Add the fresh ricotta and blitz until you have a thick, creamy consistency. You can add a few tablespoons of milk to loosen the mix. Scrape the contents into a large mixing bowl.
- Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes and the rosemary and mix these well into the cream. Add the extra-virgin oil and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour. You can even make this the night before. When you are ready to serve, toast the bread and rub each slice lightly with garlic. Give the cream a stir and either spoon directly onto the toasts or place into a serving bowl and allow your guests to help themselves.
TIP: As any vegan will tell you, the water in a can of chickpeas, the aquafaba, makes an excellent substitute for egg whites. So, instead of draining it down the sink, try including it in one of these vegan aquafaba recipes from our friends at Vegan Food & Living magazine.
Why not make your own bread with this Italian ciabatta recipe?
Words and recipe by Mario Matassa