As always, you can find a PDF copy of this recipe above the title.
Coco Chanel once said, “Before you leave the house, take at least one thing off.”
That’s been my approach when writing recipes for this newsletter. How can I pare back a dish to its essence but make sure it’s still delicious?
This week, I wanted to focus on the ingredient that gives me the same secure feeling as a weighted blanket. When I know it’s in my pantry, my entire nervous system relaxes, because I can use it to make a meal, even when there’s “no food in the house.” For some people, their security ingredient is pasta or rice. For me, it’s chickpeas.
When I’m at my best, I lovingly cook dried chickpeas in my Instant Pot, dropping in a few plump, whole garlic cloves and a bit of salt. But I’m not above keeping around a few cans of chickpeas for when I need to make dinner in a pinch.
When I use those chickpeas, it’s often in some version of this Mediterranean-style stew. I’ve made this dish a zillion different ways: with chorizo, spices, herbs, or citrus zest. I’ve finished it with feta or dollops of thick Greek yogurt.
For this version, I stripped the stew back to as few ingredients as possible — two cans of chickpeas, a can of tomatoes, an onion, and some greens — so you can have it in your back pocket when you need a supereasy meal to come together fast.
Underneath the recipe, I suggest lots of different ways you can change it up to make it yours.
And if you don’t mind eating the same thing for a few meals over a week, this is an excellent recipe to make in bulk. You can refrigerate it for up to three days and freeze it in airtight containers for a few months. Just mix up the garnishes to keep it interesting.
Fire-roasted tomatoes, sold at most supermarkets, bring a surprising smoky depth of flavor to this stew. (If you can’t find them, use regular canned tomatoes and add a pinch of smoked paprika.) But the real “secret” ingredient is time. You don’t need much of it, but simmering everything together for ten minutes transforms the greens from minerally and bitter to downright silky and sweet while infusing the chickpeas with flavor.
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