In Crete chickpeas are commonly flavored with bitter (Seville) orange, while in most other islands lemon is used. I think orange peel is a wonderful substitute for the bitter orange, along with some lemon juice. This simple chickpea dish, like the one without squash, should be made with the best quality, preferably organic dried chickpeas, not the canned ones. Their flavor is so much more interesting. 

I add mustard, something I learned from my mother who claimed that it made all pulses more digestible. I’m not sure it does, but it certainly deepens the flavor of the beans and chickpeas.

I start describing the long, old fashioned oven-cooked method, and then I add my way of making the dish fast, with pre-cooked, frozen chickpeas without losing its original flavor and texture –by the way I, as most Greeks, like the chickpeas meltingly tender, somewhat mushy, not chewy.

I developed this recipe for EATING WELL magazine; part of a piece about the healthy Cooking of Crete (March 2020).

Serves 6-8

         2 cups dried chickpeas, preferably organic (see NOTE 2)

        1 teaspoon baking soda (optional)            

       1 ½ teaspoons Salt, or to taste       

       1/3  cup olive oil          

       2 1/2  cups coarsely chopped onions        

       2-5  teaspoons Aleppo or Maras pepper, or Hot Red           Pepper Flakes to taste

      1  1/2 cups vegetable or Chicken Stock or more, as needed

         2 pieces fresh or dried orange peel (about 4-5 inches)

          1 cup coarsely chopped celery, preferably Mediterranean             leaf-celery

            About 2 pound butternut squash—peeled, seeded and               diced into 1-inch pieces

       2  tablespoons Dijon mustard

      3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or more to taste

       Extra virgin olive oil, preferably Greek, for drizzling

       Freshly ground black pepper

Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of water. Drain and rinse well under running water.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 C).

The traditional METHOD:

 In a medium bowl, combine the chickpeas salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda if you like, and toss well.

In a medium flameproof casserole or Dutch oven, heat the oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until they start to soften. Stir in the chickpeas, salt, and Aleppo pepper or pepper flakes, then add the stock or water, the orange peel and celery. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and cover the dish with a double layer of aluminum foil and then the lid.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F place the casserole in the oven and cook for about 5 hours, or until the chickpeas are quite tender. Mix the mustard with the chickpeas together with the squash pieces, toss and continue baking for another 30minutes, or until the squash is tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt, more lemon juice, and black pepper to taste.

Drizzle with olive oil and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

With Pre-cooked Chickpeas

In a sauté pan or casserole heat the oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until they start to soften. Stir in 6 cups pre-cooked chickpeas (see NOTE below), salt, and Aleppo pepper or pepper flakes, toss a few times, then add the stock or water, the orange peel and celery. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to its minimum and simmer for 15 minutes.

Mix the mustard with the chickpeas together with the squash pieces, toss, and continue simmering for another 12-15 minutes, or until the squash is tender and the chickpeas start to get mushy.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt, more lemon juice, and black pepper to taste.

Drizzle with olive oil and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

NOTE:    Pre-cooking Chickpeas

For 6-8 people:

2 cups (1 pound) dried Chickpeas yields about 6 cups cooked

1 or 2 pounds dried Chickpeas, preferably organic

2-4 Salt

1 teaspoon baking soda (optional)

Place 1 or 2 pounds Chickpeas in a large bowl, covering them with water by about 4 inches.  Let soak overnight, for 8-12 hours.

The next morning rinse the chickpeas under cold water, place in a large pot and add water to cover by about 4 inches. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, adding salt (2 teaspoons for 1 pound chickpeas, and 4 for 2 pounds) bring to a slow boil and simmer 15-20 minutes, or until the beans start to soften. Taste after 10 minutes – if they are still very hard, add the baking soda and cook 15 minutes more. Taste: the chickpeas should be almost soft, but not entirely cooked. Turn off the heat and let them cool in their broth.

Drain, let cool, then transfer to a Ziploc bag and freeze flat. They will keep for up to 6 months.

To cook, take out the bag, beat on the counter to loosen the beans, and use as much as you need. Close the bag and return to the freezer.

NOTE 2. Buy best quality Large, small or medium chickpeas

Try to get the best quality, freshest organic dried chickpeas. I prefer medium, but no matter the size, what is important is that they have not been sitting in the shelve for more than a few months. I have had chickpeas that cooked in just 15 minutes, and others, even with the addition of baking soda that helps them soften, needed more than an hour’s cooking to become edible, and never reached the meltingly tender texture that I love.

The post Chickpeas with Orange, Lemon and Squash appeared first on Aglaia's Table οn Kea Cyclades.

You can achieve a similar effect with the dried commercial pasta (see Note).

Scroll down for the variation, based on the NYT Roman version of the Pasta with Chickpeas with rosemary and tomatoes, instead of lemon.

Serves 4 

1 cup chickpeas, soaked in water overnight, or 3 cups pre-cooked, frozen chickpeas

1/2 cup olive oil

1 pound homemade fettucine, or any commercial dried pasta –linguini, spaghetti etc.

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1-3 dried pepperoncini, or good pinches Aleppo or Maras pepper, to taste

Sea salt

1 cup vegetable or chicken broth or more, as needed

2 bay leaves

3 tablespoons or more freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste

Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Flat leaf parsley to sprinkle

Fruity olive Oil to drizzle

If using dried chickpeas, drain and cook in plenty of water, over low heat, for an hour or, until tender.  Drain the chickpeas, but reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

If you like, and you are using homemade pasta warm the olive oil in a large heavy skillet, and fry about a quarter of the fresh pasta, until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. 

If you are using dried commercial pasta skip this or see Note. 

In the same olive oil, sauté the garlic and chilies for less than a minute, without letting the garlic color.  Add the cooked chickpeas sprinkle with salt to taste, and sauté 2 -3 minutes more.  Pour in 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid, or broth, add the bay leaves, and cook for another 5 minutes or more, until chickpeas are tender, adding more broth as needed.

 Stir in the lemon juice, taste and adjust the seasoning with freshly ground pepper and more lemon juice, or salt, if you like.

You can prepare the dish a few hours in advance up to this point.

About 20 minutes before serving, boil the pasta al dente, following the package instructions, drain it, and add it to the simmering chickpeas. Crumble the fried pasta, add to the skillet, toss and adjust the seasoning.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve, drizzling each plate with fruity olive oil.

NOTE:  If you are using commercial dried pasta, boil a handful for 4 to 5 minutes, until it starts to soften.  Drain well on paper towels and then fry it in olive oil until crisp.

VARIATION:

Pasta with Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Rosemary, and Chicory

Adapted from the NYT recipe, by Colu Henry

Sautee one coarsely chopped onion and the garlic, then add 2-3 fresh, diced tomatoes and 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary with the chickpeas; cook until tender, then add 1 cup ditalini pasta into the broth.  After 5-6 minutes, add 2-3 cups coarsely shredded kale, or radicchio. Toss and cook until pasta is done. 

The post Lemony, Spicy Pasta with Chickpeas (Cecci con la tria) appeared first on Aglaia's Table οn Kea Cyclades.

Covered, and often sealed with a piece of dough, the casseroles are set in the wood-burning oven, where they cook slowly all night in the receding oven heat. On Sunday morning, as the women return to their homes from church, they collect the pots and serve the tender, fragrant chickpeas for lunch, accompanied by olives and/or salted sardines and crusty bread to soak up the delicious juices. This recipe, like the one with Squash,  cannot be made with canned chickpeas, but you can precook and freeze chickpeas to make a faster version (see Note 2).

This recipe is a variation of the classic revithada, loosely based on the chickpeas Kalomira Vrondamiti used to serve at her tavern, on the picturesque Vourkari marina, in Kea.

Serves 6-8

2 1/2 cups dried chickpeas

1/4 teaspoon baking soda (optional, see note)

Salt

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups coarsely chopped onions

1–2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper, or pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1 1/2 cups Chicken or vegetable stock, or water, or more as needed

1 orange, preferably organic, quartered and seeded (not peeled)

1 cup coarsely chopped celery, stalks and leaves, preferably Mediterranean leaf-celery (wild celery) or a combination of celery and flat-leaf parsley (stems included)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Fruity extra virgin olive oil, preferably Greek, for drizzling

Freshly ground black pepper

Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of water, stirring in the baking soda, if using. Drain and rinse well under running water.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 C).

In a medium bowl, combine the chickpeas and 1 teaspoon salt and toss well.
In a medium flameproof casserole, heat the oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until soft.

Stir in the chickpeas and Aleppo pepper or pepper flakes, then add the stock or water, the orange and celery. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and cover the dish with a double layer of aluminum foil and the lid.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°F (80 C) place the casserole in the oven and cook for 6 hours, or until the chickpeas are very tender. Add mustard and lemon juice, taste and adjust the seasonings, adding black pepper to taste.

Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

NOTE 1: Baking soda is always used in Greece to help tenderize the chickpeas.

NOTE 2: You can use pre-cooked, frozen chickpeas if you want a faster version of the soup. Sauté the frozen  chickpeas with olive oil and chopped onions, the add the orange, sliced, then celery, mustard, and spices, as described above, along with the broth or water. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes or more, until the chickpeas are very tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving as described above. 

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