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Pasta With Chorizo, Chickpeas and Kale
![Pasta With Chorizo, Chickpeas and Kale](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/04/15/dining/15Pasta-Chorizo-Chickpeas-Kale-a/merlin_171317148_4f924285-2110-4e51-8595-016e89ea9549-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 8ounces fusilli or other short pasta
- ¼cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 7 to 8ounces dried chorizo, thinly sliced
- 1(15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1bunch scallions (6 to 8), thinly sliced
- 1bunch curly kale, collard greens or mustard greens, stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
- Shaved Manchego, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add chorizo and cook, stirring, until blistered and oil is bright orange, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chorizo to a medium bowl.
- Step 3
Add chickpeas and scallions to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas begin to blister, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer chickpeas and scallions to the bowl.
- Step 4
Add kale to skillet, season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta to skillet along with 1 cup pasta water and cook over medium-high, tossing with kale, until liquid reduces and coats the pasta, about 2 minutes.
- Step 5
Return chorizo, chickpeas and scallions to skillet and toss to combine. Drizzle with a little olive oil and top with Manchego to serve.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Please use weights in these recipes. Instead of a “bunch of kale “ how many ounces?
We're in pause, too, but one of the first things we bought were salamis, chorizo, sorpressa, etc. (Also have frozen chorizo!) But, that's not the point. You have everything you need to make this dish! Use the ham (or Italian sausages with the skins removed; or hamburger, even!) with whatever amount of smoked paprika and ground peppers tastes right to you. I hate kale, so I used a mix of collards and escarole. You'll be fine! Go for it (and let us know how it comes out
The description mentions garlic and paprika, but neither are listed in the ingredients, nor in the cooking instructions?
Delicious as-is with one exception: In the first step do not cook the pasta al dente. I did so then realized in the last step the pasta cooks an additional two minutes with everything else, which left it overcooked. So instead, in the first step cook the pasta two minutes short of al dente. This recipe is a keeper, once I had boiling water it literally took 10 minutes to throw together.
It's the chorizo that comes already "packed with the dense flavors of garlic, paprika and salt." You don't add them to the recipe.
This is a very quick, simple and tasty dish for a weeknight dinner. I was surprised that the recipe didn’t call for any citrus and a first taste confirmed I wanted it. A squeeze of lemon juice at the end really enhanced the overall flavor.
Play it by ear, or rather by the number of eaters! Respectfully, there's no need to measure anything in this recipe, and you can substitute to your heart's content. Today, I actually have kale, but no chickpeas, so I'll use white beans. Tthe last time I made this, I had chickpeas but no kale and used mustard greens instead. I like red pepper flakes and don't serve on pasta. It will turn out well whatever you do.
Seriously good. Used shallots instead of scallions as that's what I had. I had to add more oil once the kale hit the skillet - a fair bit more oil - and more like a cup and a half of pasta water at the end, but this is going into the rotation for sure.
I made this using Trader Joe's brand vegan chorizo, because that's all they had and the sales associate told me it's a favorite even with people who eat meat. She was right! It's very good in this recipe. It's ground, but still works really well. No need to take it out of the pan when you add the onion and chick peas. Followed the rest of it exactly and it's very tasty.
Use as much kale as you think is needed or that you would like. It's not an exact science. Also, a bunch of kale doesn't vary from place to place. It's usually a half-pound or so. More or less is not a deal-breaker
Been experimenting with this recipe and most valuably for us, once the chorizo is working (including TJ's soy-based chorizo), variations on greens (spinach, kale, mustard greens, clean-out-that-veg-drawer!) are all great. Manchego's slightly softer texture than Parmesan renders the dish more creamy when mixed in, Parmesan more nutty. If you want a more stewy dish, add a cup and a half of pasta water. It is a total family favorite every time.
Used 8 oz pasta for 4 servings. I had a 14-ounce package of frozen wild boar chorizo (ground, not in casings). Used it all, but it didn't yield as much fat as the sausage would so required a little extra olive oil. My small bunch of kale yielded about 3 cups of chopped kale - more would have been ok, but 3 cups was plenty. Used just 1 cup of chickpeas. Finished with pecorino (no manchego on hand.) So I varied each of the quantities by quite a bit. Very flexible recipe, and tasty.
Absolutely loved this dish. Took the rec of another poster & used TJ’s vegan chorizo & it was SO good! The orangy goodness doesn’t readily come off this “chorizo,” & I had to cook it a bit longer, but it was fabulous. Even better the next day! We added mushrooms and used a regular onion - because that’s what we had. Someone used the short pasta, so I made creamy, cheesy polenta, & YUM! I’m actually buying the ingredients to make this again. Huge hit!
Awesome recipe. Agree with adding lemon.
Great for riffing off. Didn’t have chorizo, used leftover BBQ chicken that I added later with the pasta. Added garlic and paprika in decent quantity to make up for the chorizo flavor. Used white beans, and instead of kale: red onion and red peppers sautéed. Completely new recipe but super tasty with grated parm and lemon juice on.
This was GRAND. Even with old Pizza Hut parmesan packets I found in my drawers. I didn't worry too much about the measurements--I used a full-size 14 oz "chorizo" sausage from Kroger (probably not real chorizo haha), about half a 16-oz bag of kale, and a regular can of chickpeas. I forgot about cooking the kale in some pasta water, added cut garlic from a jar, and used Lawry's seasoned salt. Fire!
I love this dish, and agree with those who say it needs a little acid. One way to accomplish this is to hit the kale with a couple splashes of white wine and lemon juice in the first phase of cooking. The kale then becomes an accent of bright flavor in the overall dish.
Good recipe but needs lemon juice to further build up the flavour
Loved this. Because we are vegetarian, I used wheat gluten chorizo crumbles, and subbed the anchovies with oil cured olives. I also subbed baby spinach for the kale, parmesan for the manchego, and lastly confess to adding 2 T tomato paste. It was delicious.
Oops. no anchovies in this recipe, but I did add the oil cured olives.
Very good, quick, and easy. Couldn’t find Spanish Chorizo, so I used cooked spicy Italian from Trader Joe’s. Also no green onions, so sliced up a white onion and cooked it with the chickpeas. 8 oz of pasta is actually enough for 4 people in this dish.
Dash of vinegar helped everything incorporate and brighten! Otherwise per protocol. Yum.
Just in case anyone was wondering- I made this using the Trader Joe’s Soyrizo and it worked very well! Had to add more olive oil to replace the fat that would otherwise be in real chorizo, and I also added lemon and plentyyy of cheese. It was great!
I added lemon, smoked paprika, and garlic as advised by other cooks. Putting the greens in and sauteeing was a mistake. Just add the greens with the pasta and cook a minute.
The recipe as is was a little bland, but adding some pesto really took it up a notch. I will keep this in my recipe rotation, but it definitely needs some sauce, acid, or something give more depth of flavor and tie it together
Followed to a “T” and it tasted like nothing :( Our family felt it needed a heavy hit of acid like a squeeze of lemon or some red wine vinegar added when you were reducing the pasta water. Love the idea but unlikely to make again even with those tweaks.
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