Pasta with chickpea-vodka sauce This rich, creamy decadent sauce will elevate any gluten-free or regular pasta, and it’s super-easy. Fresh rosemary adds just the right earthy note of spice.

The original recipe comes from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book

Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets

Not for:
low-sodium or migraine diets

Pasta with chickpea-vodka sauce

Pasta with vodka-chickpea sauce

3.67 from 6 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 30 ounces chickpeas garbanzo beans, cooked or canned, no-salt added
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
  • 4 cloves garlic large, or 8 small
  • 2 onions large, white, brown, yellow
  • 16 ounces tomatoes canned, chopped, no salt added
  • 1 tbsp rosemary (fresh) minced
  • 1 cup cream see substitutes below
  • 1/2 cup vodka
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 16 ounces pasta (gluten-free) spaghetti

Instructions
 

  • * I use canned chickpeas for this. If making them from dried beans, start with 10 ounces. Cream substitutes include soy creamer, MimicCreme, or soak 1/2 C. raw cashews in 1 C. filtered water for 2-4 hours, then blend until super smooth (125 g cashews with 250 ml of water).
  • In a blender or food processor, puree half of chickpeas with the liquid from the can, or enough water to make a smooth, pourable puree.
  • Peel the onions, slice in half, and slice thinly. Mince the garlic into tiny pieces. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onions for five minutes, then add the garlic. Sauté until the garlic begins to brown.
  • Put on a large pot of water to boil, adding a generous amount of salt. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta. When cooking gluten-free pasta, I add a little bit of olive oil when I put in the pasta, which makes it less sticky.
  • Add the tomatoes and their liquid, rosemary, chickpea puree, vodka, and the remaining can of chickpeas (or 1 C./250 ml water) with its liquid to the saucepan. Stirring it often, heat the mixture for about 15 minutes or until it has thickened. Add the cream substitute and pepper and heat through. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water to the sauce before draining the pasta.
  • Drain the pasta when it is al dente, rinsing briefly with cool water. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss. This greatly improves the texture of brown rice pasta.
  • Toss the hot cooked spaghetti with the sauce, and garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary, a drizzle of good olive oil, and some freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt.

Notes

Per serving:
  • 474 calories
  • 11 g fat
  • 3 g saturated fat
  • 4 g monounsaturated fat
  • 0 g polyunsaturated fat
  • 0 g trans fat
  • 11 g cholesterol
  • 30 mg sodium
  • 90 mg potassium
  • 75 g carbohydrate
  • 9 g fiber
  • 4 g sugars
  • 14 g protein
  • 12 Weight Watchers Points Plus
All hard spirits (vodka included) are gluten-free. This is not true of wine/beer if they are made from wheat, barley, etc. For this dish I used Trader Joe's brown rice spaghetti.