Tag: Bean

lemony chickpeas in Sicilian mint sauce

salad beans mint lemon bean chickpea garbanzo

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This recipe is very loosely based on a grilled chicken recipe in Lynne Rosetto Kaspar’s The Italian Country Table. My friend Andi (a local-food lover and wonderful cook living in Vermont) sent me her version of the recipe and suggested I use fresh Alaskan fish with the mint sauce—but since I happened to have the cookbook, too, I read the recipe and thought it would be fun to try it with chickpeas!

My recent discovery (in the Tuscan white bean soup with greens recipe) about soaking dried beans in salt water instead of plain water works really well for chickpeas, too! The chickpeas’ skins soften deliciously, and they cook in much less time than usual. (I learned this trick in a recent Cook’s Illustrated magazine.)

I wouldn’t ever cook such a small batch of chickpeas—I soak and cook large pots of them at a time, and then freeze them (after step 2) for different applications. Two cups of chickpeas will make something like 4 to 5 cups of cooked chickpeas. So if you make a big batch (8 or 10 cups’ worth), just scoop out what you need for this salad, then freeze the rest in labeled containers, all ready to make hummus, or the chickpea salad with kalamata olives (also on this website).

the chickpeas

sea salt or kosher salt
2 cups dried chickpeas
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
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1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
shredded zest of 1 medium lemon
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
½ teaspoon salt

the mint sauce

1 medium red onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup packed mint leaves, finely chopped

1. Rinse the chickpeas in a colander. Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add chickpeas and soak, at room temperature, for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well.
2. Put the chickpeas in a pot and cover with cold water by a couple of inches. Add the quartered onion, garlic, and bay leaves, making sure the water covers the onions. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender. This could take 30 minutes to 1½ hours, depending on the size of the beans and how old they are. I’ve found, though, that the brining step really shortens the cooking time—so if you’ve cooked chickpeas before and they’ve taken over an hour, start checking at 30 or 40 minutes. I was surprised when I did this the first time! When the beans are tender enough to easily squish between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, turn the heat off. If you have time, let the beans sit in their liquid with the aromatics until cool. Remove the quartered onions and whole garlic cloves and discard. Drain the chickpeas, RESERVING THE LIQUID. You won’t need the liquid for this recipe, but it makes a fantastic vegetable stock for soups, stews, and whatever you would normally use vegetable or chicken stock. Freeze it in labeled containers indefinitely.
3. Toss the chickpeas with the oil, lemon zest, oregano, pepper, and salt. Marinate at room temperature for an hour or so, or if you’ll not be making it right away, let it marinate in the refrigerator up to overnight. When you’re ready to serve them, warm them to room temperature or a little warmer.
4. About 30 minutes before eating, stir together the minced onion, garlic, sugar, vinegar, and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Let stand 20 minutes, then whisk in the oil. Toss the mint into the mixture, stir well, and then spoon over the chickpeas. Mix well, and taste for seasoning: add more vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

hummus

beans bean chickpeas chickpea garbanzo roasted garlic toast toppings

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You’re probably wondering why I’m bothering to give you a recipe for hummus—why make something you can buy so readily? Because home-made hummus is SO MUCH TASTIER, mainly because taking the time to cook your own chickpeas (which is considerable, I’ll admit) will create a hummus that you’ll want to eat straight out of the bowl. The home-cooked chickpeas are so flavorful and creamy you don’t even need to add olive oil—the tahini adds enough richness on its own—although you certainly can add olive oil if you like. And another reason to cook your own chickpeas for hummus: if you put your chickpeas up to soak in the afternoon, and then have a quiet evening at home (reading your book in front of nice cosy fire, for example), you’ll notice very soft popping noises every once in a while. That will be the chickpeas, popping as they soak up water and expand! Isn’t that fun? Just see if you don’t hear it, too.

I’m giving you this recipe because it’s so great on toast and in sandwiches. (I like to spread hummus on one side and olive tapenade on the other half, then put veggies in the middle, including any grilled vegetables I might have, plus red onions, lettuce, cucumbers, and especially avocados.) It’s great with the plain 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, but I also love to use the kalamata olive, rosemary, and toasted seed breads.
Need I mention that I make this recipe in large batches and freeze it in tubs? That way I always have something on hand to whip out for appetizers, or to make a delicious sandwich or side to complete dinner. If you like, you can top your hummus toast with sliced cucumbers, or pickled red onions, or roasted red peppers, or olives.

the chickpeas
This will make about 10 cups cooked chickpeas, plus liquid (You’ll need some of the liquid for the hummus.)

4 cups dried chickpeas, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight
1 onion, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves

1. Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a large pot, cover with fresh water by about an inch, and add the onion quarters and garlic and bay leaves. Make sure the water covers the onions. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the chickpeas are completely tender. This could be as short as an hour, or as long as an hour and a half or more. The peas should be quite soft—soft enough to easily mash between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. If you have time, let the chickpeas sit in their cooking liquid and cool—they will absorb more of the flavorful broth and have a creamier texture.
2. When you’re ready to make your hummus, pick out the onions and garlic and bay leaves and discard. Strain the chickpeas, reserving the broth. You’ll need some of it for the hummus, but use the rest as vegetable stock to make soups or stews—freeze it until you’re ready to use it.
 
the hummus

9 cloves garlic
1 cup roasted tahini
1 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin (toast the seeds in a skillet first, then grind in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle)
juice of 3 lemons
2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt, plus more to taste
about 10 cups chickpeas, from previous recipe, plus cooking liquid as needed
extra-virgin olive oil (optional, to taste)
roasted garlic (optional)

1. Toss the garlic in a food processor and process until thoroughly minced. Add the tahini, cumin, lemon juice, and salt to the work bowl and process some more until well mixed.
2. Add as many of the chickpeas to the bowl as fit comfortably and process again, running the blade until the mixture is a fairly smooth puree. If it doesn’t start to form a puree, add a little of the cooking liquid until it starts coming together. Dump this mixture into a big bowl. Put some more of the chickpeas in the bowl, and start the blade. Add cooking liquid again until the mixture starts to become a puree, then let the blade go until the peas are smooth. Repeat until you have pureed all the chickpeas and scooped them out into the bowl.
3. Mix them all together so the initial tahini batch is thoroughly combined with the chickpeas from the later batches, and taste it. It may need a little more lemon, and it is very likely to need more salt. Add a little at a time, mixing well between additions, until you have the perfect combination. Ask other members of your family or a friendly neighbor to taste it and see if they think it needs more lemon or salt—they might start eating it by the spoonful, just to make sure you have the right balance!
4. If you want to make this recipe richer and more creamy, you can add olive oil—either mixed right in, or drizzled over the top. I don’t think it needs it, because of the richness of the tahini, but by all means add it if you like.
5. If you’d like to make roasted garlic hummus, puree several cloves of roasted garlic into the chickpea mixture in the food processor. Taste it and add more cloves to your taste.