Il Casale's Pasta e Ceci. [Photographs: Elizabeth Bomze]

This is one of those posts where I'm going to take advantage of my editorial license and digress from the column's usual hook. The pasta e ceci that chef Dante de Magistris serves at Il Casale is not the Belmont restaurant's most popular dish; that title, I'd imagine, goes to his spectacular tagliatelle Bolognese, a true meat-lover's ragù, which he learned to make in Bologna with beef, pork, veal, mortadella, chicken livers, and a gelatin-rich homemade brodo.

The humble chickpea bisque ($9) probably isn't even the second or third most popular, those honors possibly reserved for the pillowy gnocchi or perhaps the grilled trout with Genovese salsa. But I don't care. This soup is one of my all-time Il Casale favorites, so as soon as it reappeared on the menu for its second springtime run, I couldn't let the opportunity go by to give it some love.

Pasta e fagioli's garbanzo-bean cousin, pasta e ceci is as rustic as it is satisfying, and usually includes three key ingredients: chickpeas, some form of short pasta, and rosemary. I've never eaten two versions that looked exactly same: Some are brothy with chunks of whole chick peas and vegetables, others are silky-smooth, and plenty—including Il Casale's—fall somewhere in between.

For his version, de Magistris soaks dried chickpeas overnight and then combines them (and their soaking liquid) with extra-virgin olive oil, whole garlic gloves, bay leaves, dried chiles, rosemary, sage, and a few halved fresh tomatoes, and simmers the whole lot for three hours. Then he purées half of the mixture (minus the garlic, chili, bay, rosemary, and sage), resulting in a texture that's mostly smooth but with enough body to coat a spoon. His pasta of choice, baby penne, is cooked separately and added at the last minute, just before topping it off with croutons, a drizzle of rosemary-infused extra-virgin olive oil, and a fistful of parsley and chives.

Plump Maine rock shrimp are worth the splurge in this humble soup.

The bisque is stellar as-is, and is hearty yet light enough that you can still comfortably follow it with a half order of a pasta. But those who are so inclined should upgrade to the version with rock shrimp (add $4). The tiny Maine crustaceans are plump, sweet, and briny—a perfect contrast the soup's soft, nutty richness.

Il Casale

50 Leonard Street, Belmont MA 02478 (map)
617-209-4942; ilcasalebelmont.com