Garbanzo and Walnut Pasta

So today didn't entirely go to plan. I hopped in the car to head to the DMV to get a replacement title, and the sucker died right on my street. (I think the old gal was worried I was selling her. Don't worry babe, come home and I'll drive you straight into the ground.)

Any who, I am stranded at home and our supplies are running incredibly thin. There's no onions, no fresh herbs, and the carrots and celery are looking a little on the sad side.

So as fashion expert Tim Gunn would say, I hit a make it work moment.

Yesterday's lovely salad left a good 3/4 quarters of a cup of garbanzos in a Tupperware in my fridge, so I put them to good use. I simmered a couple teaspoons of olive oil, added two cloves of crushed garlic and let it do it's thing for about a minute. Then I added the garbanzos, about 1 cup of chicken stock, salt, pepper, red pepper flake and a heaping teaspoon of Wild Tree's Spaghetti Sauce Blend. I took that to a boil and let it simmer covered for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile I toasted a healthy handful of walnuts and got my pasta cooking. I used Cavatelli because we had it on hand. What the heck is Cavatelli? If you don't know you should. It's got great bite, coats well and is wonderful in soups. See this pasta primer for a glossary of shapes.

Once toasted, I threw the nuts in the food processor (the best kitchen tool in the world!) and hit pulse a few times.

I removed the nuts, and threw the bean blend in until it reached a velvety consistency.

I tossed the nuts, bean blend and pasta in my skillet for a sec and plated it up, topped with a healthy dose of parm. There's plenty for another serving, which is good, as I won't have any way to get supplies for lunch tomorrow!

This was a hearty comfort meal and while I don't have the caloric count, it can't be terrible for you. A bit of fresh parsley chopped in with the nuts and a squeeze of lemon juice in the final toss would have made this even better, but I made it work and am looking forward to my leftovers.

Best part, I didn't drop $20 on a so so pizza delivery.