Beans & Legumes « (y)our food choices™

Crunchy, roasted chickpeas make for tasty, arguably healthy, and relatively quick bar bites. With cooler weather just around the corner, it’s time to crank up the oven. To heat up the palate, warm spices like cumin, black pepper, and cayenne give roasted chickpeas a punch of flavor and a heat that brings pink to our cheeks (the cocktails help, too). If you want something with a little more complexity, season the roasted beans with garam masala or a spicy curry powder blend. Whatever you do, make sure their completely dry and dark brown. They should shatter when you bite them.

With nothing more than an inexpensive can of chickpeas (garbanzos), some olive oil and a little salt (all pantry staples), you can have this hearty snack prepped and toasting in 10 minutes. The oven does the rest of the work while you prep other dishes. Be sure to drain and pat the chickpeas dry between paper towels before tossing with oil and seasoning. The goal is to dehydrate them as much as possible as quickly as possible without burning them. Extra water slows that down.

Roasted chickpeas are a perfect snack whatever the libation. They’re equally at home with a glass of bubbly and a pint of beer. Their spices get an amplification boost from stiffer drinks like our favorite gin martini or a great rye Manhattan. In the highly unlikely event you have leftovers, they make great croutons on salad. Whatever the occasion, roasted chickpeas are a guaranteed crowd pleaser!

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Roasted Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garam masala (or other dried herbs of choice)
kosher salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Drain the can of chickpeas (discarded or save water for another use)and pat down the peas with a kitchen towel or paper towels until the peas are as dry as possible. Place the peas on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil over them and toss until coated. Put the sheet pan in the oven.

After 8 minutes remove the peas from the oven and place them into a medium sized bowl. Add the garam masala, kosher salt, and pepper, toss until coated. Put the peas back on the sheet pan and return to the oven for another 5-8 minutes or until dark and crispy.

Let cool for about 10 minutes before eating.

We recently discovered the wonder of the homemade grain bowl. With easy, relatively inexpensive make-ahead components, whipping up a week’s worth of quick meals is a snap. Even better than their simplicity, all those protein-rich grains, seeds and legumes are packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. If you’re looking for nutritional bang for the buck, grain bowls are a great way to go. Oh, and they’re delicious, so there’s that!

A dish like a grain bowl is naturally variable. What goes into the bowl and in what proportions or combinations, is limited only by our imaginations. A grain bowl obviously calls for some sort of grain, but that could include any whole kernel or seed. If you need a plant-based complete protein, combining a whole grain like brown rice and a legume like lentils will do the trick.

We add a variety of fresh or roasted veggies to the bowl, depending on the temperature outside and what’s available in the veggie bins. For texture and color we like to include thinly shaved cabbage, fennel, or radish (or all three), as well as diced Persian cucumbers, roasted peppers, and toasted pumpkin seeds.

To keep it light on our bellies, we start with a base salad of chopped romain or arugula that we dress with a simple vinaigrette. After everything’s added to the bowl, the whole thing gets a little drizzle of a thick, aged balsamic vinegar. And then, if that weren’t enough, the top gets a drizzle of garlicky miso vinaigrette. It’s OK. The grains and beans in the bowl need the kick of flavor.

This may look like a lot to assemble, but grains are fairly quick cooking and require very little attention. With a couple of sauce pans, a measuring cup, and a kitchen timer (or two).

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Miso Vinaigrette
These are all approximate quantities. Every cook should personalize something like vinaigrette. Play with the flavors here and remember, that miso is very salty, so if you add salt, be careful with it.

1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 tablespoons walnut oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
Sesame oil
Black pepper to taste

Add miso and vinegar to a salad bowl and mash miso with the back of a spoon, incorporating the vinegar, until it forms a thin paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk to blend. Adjust seasoning as desired.

Grain Bowl Basics
These grain quantities, cooked and stored in the fridge, will provide approximately 8 servings throughout the week:

1 cup 11 grain blend, dry (or your choice of rice, wheat, millet, whole oats, rye, barley, etc.)
1 cup French lentils, dry (the little ones)
1 cup quinoa, dry
1 bay leaf

For the lentils:
Lentil should be sorted to help remove tiny stones and clumps of dirt, then rinsed under cold water to remove dust.

Add lentils to a small pot with enough water to cover them by a couple of inches and turn the heat to medium. Add a half teaspoon salt to the water and the bay leaf to the pot. Once water comes to a boil, turn stove down and simmer lentils over low heat for approximately 25 minutes. The lentils are done when they’re tender but easily hold their shape.

For the 11 grain blend:
Add 11 grain blend (or brown rice) to a medium pot along with two cups of water. Add a half teaspoon salt to the water. Cover and set pot over medium heat. The moment the water comes to a boil, turn heat to lowest possible flame and keep the pot covered. Cook grain for 40 minutes. Leave covered and remove from heat and let stand for at least 10 minutes.

For the quinoa:
In a mesh strainer, rinse quinoa well to remove dust and the slightly bitter resin on the outer coating. Add quinoa to a pot along with two cups of water. Add a half teaspoon salt to the water and set the pot over medium heat. Bring pot to a boil, reduce to lowest heat possible and cover. Cook for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes, covered.