Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo

Some meals lend themselves to discussion and critique. Not this meal. There was no time to speak because MG and I never put our utensils down. Once or twice, we might spontaneously erupt with an “Oh!” or even an ” Ohhhhhhh!” accentuated by a dramatic eye-roll or tummy rub, but that was about all we could muster from the time the plates left the kitchen to the point where we were wiping the final morsels from the corners of our lips.

This is comfort food any way you can consider it. It is so completely satisfying that the evening required nothing else – no television, no music. We just sat there, sated and smiling. The chickpeas are nice and crsipy, and soak up the spicy flavor of the chorizo with unadulterated gusto. The spinach and breadcrumbs add texture and color, but if you’re short on time, you could bypass them completely. MG and I were sneaking tastes of just the chickpeas and the chorizo as it cooked together, and it would have been more than enough for us.

Works fantastic as a dinner, a side dish, a late night guilty pleasure, breafast, any time of the day, really. I’m thinking wrapping it up in a pita with some tahini sauce might bring me closer to Jesus.

I’m not running out of things to say here. It was that good! The ingredients are inexpensive. It was incredibly easy to make. It poses beautifully for pictures.

The only one this meal did not do right by was my poor kitty, Z, who could smell something delicious but couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t appearing in his food bowl. Maybe next time, fatty.

Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo from The Minimalist

• 2 cups chickpeas, dried (if canned, washed and dried thoroughly between two paper towels)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 stick chorizo
• 3/4 – 1 lb fresh spinach leaves
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced white onion

Warm about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan, and once heated toss in your chickpeas and your chorizo.   Give it an additional mixing, but beyond that, you don’t want to stir too much. Just occasionally.  The chroizo fat will slowly consume the chickpeas, which will turn a gorgoeus regal red and brown.  Let cook for about 15 minutes.  The chickpeas should turn nice and crispy.  I gave it an additional few minutes of cook time, but 15 would have been just fine also.

Remove the chickpeas and chorizo from the pan and leave aside in a bowl. Add a little more olive oil to the pan and toss in the spinach leaves. Turn and stir regularly as they will cook down quite fast. The Minimalist also suggests about a 1/4 cup of sherry here, but I didn’t bother. I had already sampled the chickpeas and chorizo, so I knew I was not in for disappointment.

Add back in your chickpeas and chorizo, along with the onion and garlic. Cover with about 1 cup of bread crumbs

Cook it in the broiler for about 5-8 minutes. I could have gone a little longer. I would have liked the bread crumbs to brown a bit more, but at this point it was close to 10 in the evening and MG and I had been smelling this food cook for about 30 minutes.

Tags: chickpeas, chorizo, spinach, The Minimalist