Spanish fideos with chickpeas
Thin noodles toasted golden in olive oil, then simmered with chickpeas in a smoky paprika tomato broth until it’s all soaked up, like paella made with pasta.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $1.89 a serving
- 470 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz angel hair pasta
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1½ tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 470 calories, 16 g protein, 72 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $1.89 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the angel hair in a zip-top bag and break it into 1-inch pieces with your hands. the onion and the garlic.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large over medium heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Add the noodles and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until evenly deep .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Keep them moving the whole time. They go from golden to burnt quickly, and toasting is where the flavor comes from.Tip them onto a plate.
Add the last tablespoon of oil and the onion to the and cook 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in the garlic and smoked paprika for 30 seconds.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Add the tomatoes and cook 3 minutes, until they start to break down.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Stir in the chickpeas, broth, turmeric and salt, turn the heat to high, and .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir in the toasted noodles, turn the heat to medium-low, and uncovered 8 to 10 minutes, stirring only once or twice, until the broth is absorbed and the noodles are tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 9 min
Take it off the heat and let it sit 5 minutes. Serve with parsley and lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Timer: 5 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
