Food Storage Friday: Pasta con Ceci (che-chee)

I've gotten on a food storage kick recently, after the discovery of this blog, and so I've been trying to come up with recipes that use only nonperishable ingredients. After we came up with a list of things we thought we'd like to have in the rotation, my mind drifted back a few years and thought of a recipe that my fabulous cousin Melayna made me once when I was visiting. She served a mission in Italy, and she described this as the Italian version of mac 'n' cheese - fast, easy, and universally liked. I called her up this week to get the recipe and we tried it out. It turned out so good that we quickly dismissed Bean and Rice Soup from our list of food storage dinners and added Pasta con Ceci to the collection.

The Cast of Characters

2 Tbs. olive oil
4 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder), finely chopped
1 Tbs. basil
1 tsp. salt
2 cans of garbanzo beans
1 lb. pasta

Here's what you do:
In a large saucepan or stockpot on medium heat, heat olive oil. Saute garlic cloves, or if you're doing this food storage style, 1 tsp. garlic powder.

When the garlic starts to get all aromatic on you, add  basil, salt, and garbanzo beans (chick peas) with all their liquid. Simmer this mixture, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, or until the garbanzo beans get softer. After 10 minutes or so, take a potato masher to this mixture and mash until about half the beans are mashed. You still want to have some of them intact, so don't go crazy here.

Now add dry pasta and enough water to cover the mixture. Simmer 10 more minutes or until the pasta is cooked through.

You're done! One pot, 20 minutes. That's my kind of dinner. And it's tasty to boot! Matt and I gobbled it right up!
Serve with Blitz Bread for a little extra Italian lovin'.