I love this recipe because it quickly turns a can of chickpeas into something special. I usually make this for lunch or dinner along with some quinoa, salad and cultured radishes, but you could also use it as a bean dip on a Friday night with a glass of wine. I haven’t done that yet but now that I’m thinking about it, I’m excited to try :)
This takes about 10 minutes to make so it’s definitely busy weekday friendly. It can easily be scaled up to use more than one can of chickpeas for a larger group.
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Quick Smashed Spanish Chickpeas
Adapted from the Smashed Chickpeas recipe (pg 51) in Jamie Oliver’s Food Escapes.
Note: I start with an unsalted can of chickpeas in this recipe. If you’re working with a can that already contains it, I would hold off on adding the salt and then salt to taste at the end.
Olive oil (Spanish if you have it, NO worries if you don’t)
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
14.5 oz can chickpeas with the liquid
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
Pour a glug of olive into a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic. Let it sizzle for a couple minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until the garlic is fragrant and just barely starting to brown around the edges.
Pour in the chickpeas and their liquid and bring to a simmer. Let cook for a couple minutes then remove the pan from heat.
With a potato masher (or something along those lines) coarsely mash the chickpeas, then add the sea salt, oregano, smoked paprika and vinegar. Stir well.
Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of smoked paprika for presentation, and people will probably think you labored over this for much longer than you actually did :)
Serves 2
