Back to Home About Mango & Tomato Contact MePublicity & News Hire Me!Portfolio

4/1/13

Love Chickpeas But Tired of Hummus? Ina Garten Can Help!

Let's play a little game of word association. If I say chickpeas, what's the first thing you think of? I bet a lot of you would say hummus. And yes, chickpeas are awesome for making hummus such as this Roasted Sweet Potato Hummus or this Zesty Spicy Hummus. But chickpeas are great in so many other dishes as well!

Think Roasted Tomatoes, Chickpeas & Feta Salad or Roasted Indian Chickpeas or Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo and Chickpeas. The possibilities of cooking with chickpeas are endless.

A few weekends ago I made yet another recipe from  Barefoot Contessa's Foolproof for the Cookbook Dinner Party I was having with a few friends. Ina's recipe for Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas is definitely something you should add to your cooking repertoire.


What you do is this:

  1. Add drained chickpeas to a food processor and pulse until the mixture becomes chopped but not pureed. {Note: the recipe calls for adding a bit of chicken broth, but you can add water or vegetable broth if you want to keep this recipe vegetarian.}
  2. Then, in a large skillet heat olive oil and add tomatoes. Once tomatoes have been sauteed, add garlic and let it cook for a little bit.
  3. Then add the chickpeas and allow them to heat through.
  4. Once everything has been warmed through, remove the mixture to a bowl and add grated Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and serve with bread or pita chips.

This is a fabulous warm appetizer to have before a meal, or it can be paired with a salad and soup for lunch.
I'm clearly infatuated with Ina and this cookbook.

What's YOUR favorite way of cooking with chickpeas?

3 comments:

Liren Baker said...

Sounds fabulous! Anything from Ina is, though, right? I adore chickpeas, and often simply in salads. But I'll take it any which way. Have a great Monday, Olga!

Megan said...

I love the sound of this. I've had a warm hummus before and loved it. This sounds similar. I love falafel and need to try making them. And I like hummus. But I'm not a big fan of whole chickpeas on their own.

chezsasha.com said...

This is such an awesome idea. That Ina really knows her stuff.

I love sauteeing canned chickpeas with just about anything: curry, balsamic vinegar, leftover chicken...