Take a tin of ... chickpeas

Sometimes you just have to go right back to basics in the kitchen. Julia Watson has her tin-opener on the pulse

If you have a Mother Hubbard tendency towards finding nothing in your food cupboard, try at least to keep a tin of chickpeas lurking somewhere in a corner. Any housewife faced with a pot of chickpeas in India, Turkey, Greece, Africa, or the Mediterranean, where they are a local staple, would be able to put together a meal that was easy to make and entirely delicious with little time or trouble. Obviously it helps if you have spices, or a handful of pasta, a potato, or rice to chuck into your pot alongside them, but garbanzos or ceci are amazingly forgiving of frugality.

Italian cooks put equal weights of cooked pasta and chickpeas together, then stir in butter or olive oil, Parmesan and plenty of black pepper. Without the fat and with chicken stock and a handful of fresh chopped parsley, you have a soup.

Middle Eastern recipes are more elaborate. Precise measurements aren't necessary - use what you have. Adding a seeded and chopped chilli, chopped fresh coriander and a teaspoon of turmeric to all but the last recipe will ring the changes.

Here are some more quick ideas. All recipes serve 2-4, depending on appetites. If you find you make too much, cover and store in the fridge for the next day.

Chickpea Soup
Gently fry a peeled and sliced onion, a chopped clove of garlic, a chopped and deseeded red pepper and a couple of chopped anchovy fillets in a little olive oil. Don't worry if you hate anchovies - you won't know they're there but they will give terrific body to the soup. Add a small tin of tomatoes and simmer till the pepper is soft. Then pour in the tin of chickpeas and their liquid and bring the pot slowly to the boil. Taste and add salt if necessary, then toss in a handful of short, thick pasta, stir and cook till tender. (If you want a little more liquid, add 250ml chicken or vegetable stock and simmer with the chickpeas.)

Chickpea and Spinach Stew
In a large pan, fry a slice of bread till gold on both sides, then set aside. Fry a roughly chopped onion in a generous slug of olive oil till soft, then add 3 or 4 peeled and chopped tomatoes and stir until they begin to flop. Sprinkle in 1 tbsp paprika and fry, then add 500g spinach. When it has wilted, add a tin of drained chickpeas. Mince a clove of peeled garlic and pound it together with the fried bread right down, then add to the stew. Cover, turn the heat low, simmer for 30 minutes, and eat. (You can add a little chicken or vegetable stock, as above, if you like a looser texture.)

Chickpea, Tomato and Potato Stew
Heat a couple of generous slugs of olive oil in a pan. Add a roughly sliced medium onion, a chopped clove of garlic and soften a little, then throw in some chunks of a large peeled potato and fry gently till beginning to colour. Add a tin of peeled tomatoes, then a tin of drained chickpeas, 150ml water, salt, a pinch of sugar and a grind of pepper. Leave to simmer gently until the potatoes are tender and the sauce thickened. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes away from the heat, if you can, to mellow. In the Middle East, this is generally eaten cold.