Sunday, May 31, 2009

Roasted Chick Peas

Gawd I love these. I only make them in the summer and am never sure why I don't ever make more at one sitting? Because Scott and I usually eat them all quite quickly? Possibly...

Roast Chick Peas

1 can chick peas rinsed and drained and drained on paper towels
1 T olive oil
1-2 roasted garlic bulbs (I roasted a bunch this morning for various recipes)
salt
chili powder

In a ceramic pie plate combine oil, garlic and spices. Mush up the garlic a lot so it will be evenly spread. Add chick peas. Roast at 350 for 1+ hours. Usually when the hour is up I just leave these in the hot oven for another hour or two.

I should say this makes about 1 cup of the finished product.

delicious. Perfect with a drink about 4 on a Sunday afternoon. Hmmmm... guess what I'm doing RIGHT NOW?!

Enjoy!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Clean Out The Fridge Pasta Salad

3 oz dry orzo - cooked
1 ½ cups chick peas
3-5 handfuls (handsful) baby spinach
3 T minced onion (red or vidalia)
1 pint roasted grape tomatoes (see note)
feta (or whatever cheese you prefer - I only had about 1/3 cup but it was fine.)
2+ T olive oil
juice of ½ large lemon
lemon zest of 1 large lemon - chopped finely

Place spinach and onion in bowl. While orzo is still hot - pour into bowl. Stir to partially "cook" spinach. Add in oil, lemon juice, zest, tomatoes and feta. Eat warm or cool.

Roasting grape tomatoes. I tried this both ways this weekend and prefered the 2nd.

1. Line cookie sheet with foil. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle w/ kosher salt. Roast at 250 for 1+ hour.

2. Line cookie sheet with foil. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle w/ kosher salt. Place in a preheated 450 oven and turn off heat. (I had just made tortilla chips - so my oven was nice and hot.) Leave in oven until they are roasted and slight caramelized.

In either case - as soon as they are done - put into a bowl to save all the yummy juices. You could also sprinkle a couple garlic cloves in with these and then have roasted garlic!