Giangi's Kitchen

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Orecchiette with chickpeas and zaatar. A perfectly cooked orecchiette pasta blended with savory garlic, lemon, chickpeas, spinach, and zaatar with a touch of curry.  Trust me, out of this world.

All those ingredients marry well, and each bite is infused with so much flavor. Irresistible is more like it.

The recipe

I saw you looking at the recipe and shrugging your shoulders at the length of the ingredients. Do not fear. This is a recipe that will soon become your favorite as it did in our house.

However, I advise you to have all the ingredients ready, measured and chopped before you turn on the stove. This recipe only takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish.

Before going any further, I want to go over a couple of ingredients that if you do not use in your kitchen regularly, they may prevent you from enjoying this wonderful dish.

What is Zaatar?

Zaatar is a Middle Eastern spice blend of dried wild thyme, sesame seeds, and sumac.

What does zaatar taste like? 

With the combination of the dried herbs, you will have a rich nutty floral, herby and tangy taste with a bit of acidic keynote.  Zaatar does not have any heat to it.

Zaatar spice substitute

For a quick at-home substitute of zaatar, just add dried thyme, sesame seeds, sumac, or lemon zest if you do not have sumac on hand.

Mix together two tablespoons of sesame seeds, one tablespoon of dried thyme, and two tablespoons of sumac or the lemon zest of one lemon.

You can also use dried herbs such as oregano or parsley.

Orecchiette Pasta

Orecchiette pasta, or “little ears” pasta, is a specialty of Southern Italy, Apulia. A preferred pasta to be enjoyed with sauces as the concave side is the perfect “sauce collector.”

Orecchiette is round in shape, gently pressed with a thumb in the middle to make a small shell form.

With each bite, you will enjoy not only the spinach but the fresh herbs, parsley,

Ideally, for all tomato sauces, and it works well with vegetables too.

What is a good substitute for orecchiette pasta?

Any shaped pasta, such as fusilli, farfalle, or penne, will be a good substitute. You want pasta that will collect the sauce.

Anchovies fillets

Here is where I lose a lot of you, but before you do so, hear me out. You will not look or taste the anchovies.

With this recipe, once you start cooking, they will disappear, leaving behind a great salty flavor that balances well with the chickpeas.

The anchovies, which are small Mediterranean fish, come flat or rolled in cans or jars. Gutted before being cured in salt and packed in olive oil.

Anchovies are excellent for your health, with lots of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and selenium.

Always buy them in a glass jar; they store better. Whatever you are not using will be tossed as it is hard to store or save the one in a metal tin.

Anchovies substitutes

A great substitute for anchovies is Worcestershire sauce, which, for you to know, also contains anchovies. Fish sauce, shrimp paste sardines, soy sauce, miso capers, and kalamata olives.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas or garbanzo beans are pantry staples at my house.

I used the one in the can for this recipe. Rinse them before using them to remove any juice from the can. Soft and tender, and once toasted, they get a wonderful nutty flavor.

A pasta dish with chickpeas is rich and full of flavor.

Chickpeas marry well with pasta; another use for another time is pasta e ceci

Tips and Step By Steps Instructions

• Have all the ingredients ready before starting cooking, as this recipe will go rather fast once you start.
• Start making the sauce while you are bringing the salted pasta water to a boil.
• Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s requirement. However, cook them al dente, meaning drain them one minute before they are ready. Al dente or to the bite. The pasta will spend another minute with the sauce, and you do not want the orecchiette to be overcooked.
• Use a large skillet that will hold both the sauce and, of course, the pasta.
• Hold a cup of the salted pasta water just in case you may need to add it to the chickpea skillet.
• Drain the chickpeas and remove any empty shells if any are found.
• The spinach starts welting as soon as it hits the heat source. Stir them well so as not to burn to the skillet bottom.
• Add the pasta and turn to well blend the pasta with the zaatar and spinach.

This zaatar pasta recipe is an inspiration by chef Yotam Ottolenghi. If you are not familiar with him, please do so; you will not regret it.

Ottolenghi’s cooking reflects Jewish, Italian, and German heritage via his spice and ingredient selection. The play with flavors leaves me mesmerized, and going back to try more recipes.

I use my favorite Le Creuset Braiser.

It presents beautifully at the table if you so choose. Great also for pot lucks. Your food will cook evenly, and it is a must in your kitchen.  The enamel cast iron braiser is the perfect heat inducer because of the enamel, and you can prepare beautiful sauces in it.

The original recipe required cumin. Somehow my brain decided that it was curry. I read, as usual, the recipe three times, and each time I read curry.

While sitting at my desk translating it from French to English, I realized I was supposed to use cumin. Mind you, cumin and curry are written exactly the same in French and English.

Have some fun with this recipe, and you may want to substitute the spinach with some broccoli rabe.

Add some sun-dried tomato to the below recipe.

Or why not add some heat and add some red pepper flakes?

If you enjoy this recipe, check out these flavorful recipes:

Orecchiette with Sausage and Tomatoes

Chickpeas, Cauliflower, Curry Vinaigrette

Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower and Chickpeas

 

Equipment and ingredients used to make this recipe

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Originally published on October 27, 2019. Updated on May 18, 2022.