Chickpeas and Sausage in Tomato Sauce

A friend of mine recently told me about a great dinner he had cooked for him and his wife that was so delicious, yet simple. Though he is not Italian, his basic list of ingredients had so many familiar Italian components to it; I decided to give it a try.  He basically used onions, peppers, sausage, chickpeas and tomatoes. I changed the recipe up a bit based on what I had in my refrigerator at the time. 

---

Here’s your list of ingredients:
Olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 sweet Italian sausages
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
A glug of white wine
1 28-32 oz can of whole Italian plum tomatoes in puree
Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning

Bread slices and a garlic clove (optional)

Let's get started!

Set a large skillet on the stove and add a swirl of olive oil to it. Set your burner to med/hi.  Add the chopped peppers, onions, celery and minced garlic.  Sauté to wilt the vegetables.

With your knife, make a slit through the casing of the sausages, enabling you to quickly remove and discard the casing.  Crumble the sausage meat into the skillet with the vegetables and continue to sauté to brown the sausage.  Season with a little salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Add the drained chickpeas to the skillet when the sausage has browned.  (I always rinse and drain my canned beans.  This washes away the salty liquid, enabling me to season the dish to my liking.)

Add a glug of white wine, and let the mixture cook to evaporate the wine.

Add in the tomatoes, giving each one a good squeeze to release its juices. (I love this part!  Yes, sometimes, I squirt the stove, or me…but that’s why they make cute aprons.) Taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper.  Simmer the whole shebang for about 10 minutes, and you’re done!

At the last minute, I decided to serve my “stew” over bruschetta.  I quickly toasted some bread, rubbed it with a raw garlic clove, and placed it in the bottom of my soup bowl.  I drizzled some good olive oil over the bread before ladling my stew over the top.  It was a wonderful, hearty and delicious one-pot meal. 

My delicious dinner came out the consistency of stew.  When my friend, Zvi makes it, it’s more like soup.  You could certainly add more tomatoes and some water. You could also change this up with whatever you have in the frig.  I think it would be great with chopped spinach, diced carrots, leeks, or even cubes of zucchini. Thanks for the idea Zvi!

Oh, and don’t forget to wash it down with something delicious.  In this case, a lovely bottle of Aglianico from Villa Matilde Rocca dei Leoni in Campania, available from www.vino100whiteplains.com
Sigh.