Usually we make this recipe using ditalini as the stew pasta. Since I have been cutting out gluten in my diet we needed to find a different starch. I thought about adding potatoes or maybe rice noodles but I had a box of casarecce that was made from chickpea flour so I decided to go with that.

This is a soupy stew with carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and zucchini. For the tomato flavor I used a can of Rotel. It uses a can of chickpeas and a handful of greens. The liquid is some sort of stock (I used chicken stock) and it can be finished with a grating of Parmesan cheese. A Parmesan rind is also a good flavor booster. Of course if you want to keep this vegan you would use vegetable stock and omit the Parmesan cheese.

A word about chickpea pasta. It does not have the flavor or texture of regular pasta. It kind of disintegrates in your mouth. It has a distinct chickpea flavor which in this dish was not awful. I would hesitate using it in other dishes.