Every culture and cuisine has a special subgroup of recipes devoted to stretching pantry and leftover ingredients into new, nourishing meals. These are the resourceful dishes that have fueled nations, supplying the working class with the energy to build cities, roads, and factories, not to mention grow their families.

In Italy, this category of food is known as cucina povera, or "poor kitchen." Though these recipes are, by design, lacking decadence, they promise no-frills comfort food that can genuinely nourish you. One such enduring classic is known as pasta e ceci or pasta with chickpeas.