Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Slow Travel Sunday Small Bites: SSB# 19 - Chick Peas

This week's ingredient is Chick Peas and it was selected by me! :) It is the last ingredient in the Slow Travel Sunday Small Bites Cooking group which started on September 6.

I decided to pick Chick Peas because although it was an ingredient used in AnnieNC's delicious Couscous Salad, I never actually used it because I mistakenly used Sweet Peas rather than Chick peas. I didn't realize that Chick Peas were Garbanzo Beans. That was the first mistake...the second involved a pan of chicken broth and a pot of already cooked Couscous...:) I thought Annie's recipe was great and my salad (thanks to Annie's great recipe) ended up tasting delicious despite my mistakes. So when I joined the Sunday Small Bites, I decided to pick Chick Peas to make up for my mistake and also because I thought it would be a great ingredient for an appetizer dish.

I decided to go with a recipe that I found on the Internet called Chick Peas Crostini from the What's Cooking America website. I thought it was a very easy and tasty dish to make. And you'll be happy to know that I was mistake free!


Ingredients:

12-inch loaf of baguette bread
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 carrot, cut into small chunks
1 small onion, quartered
2 celery stalks, cut into small pieces
2 sprigs flat Italian parsley
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
2 cups chicken stock or broth
Extra-virgin olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions:

Cut the baguette bread into 10 slices (I cheated and bought pre-sliced baquette bread from my local Bristol Farms store). In the oven or on a grill, toast the bread.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the chickpeas, carrot, onion, celery, parsley, thyme, salt, and chicken broth. Bring just to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and cook approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and drain the beans and vegetables, discarding the liquid and thyme stems.

Transfer chickpea mixture to a food processor. While processing, drizzle some olive oil into the mixture until a chunky smooth texture is attained.

To serve, spread a thick helping of the chickpea mixture onto each slice of toasted baguette bread, then arrange them on serving plates. Drizzle each with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar. Makes 10 slices.


During the past 3 1/2 months members in the group shared so many delicious and creative appetizer recipes and I learned so much from the experience. Thank you so much to all the very talented Slow Talk Sunday Small Bite Members for sharing all of your recipes and expertise. I had a lot of fun, I got a lot of great appetizer recipes to try and I learned a lot from the experience.

For more Sunday Small Bites (SSB) recipes, visit the Slow Talk Website.

14 comments:

  1. Kathy, these crostini look delicious! I'm so glad you chose chick peas/garbanzos because they are my favorite bean. I've got a couple of recipes and need to decide which one I'm going to make this weekend.

    I'm still chuckling about that couscous salad and everything that happened when you made it. :)

    Small Bites has been a lot of fun - I'm so glad you joined in!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Forgot to say that I love your Small Bites photo collage! You do such amazing things like videos and collages - lots of fun to see them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Annie, glad you liked my collage. And thank you so much for letting me know about these great cooking groups on Slow Talk. I very rarely check in on the EE forum and so I really didn't know what I was missing! I did the collage because when I looked back at all of my dishes, I noticed that I really seemed to improve since I first started with the salads. I really have come a long way. So thank you so much for introducing me to something really great and wonderful. I plan to continue cooking some of the great recipes I saw from everyone.

    I love my couscous salad experience so much. And I intend to make your wonderful salad again soon but this time I will make it the way it was intended to be. It was just too much that I made two huge mistakes. I knew I made the chicken broth one, but until I saw everyone's photos of their dishes I really thought that I had cooked your delicious salad with Chick peas. :) Too funny! I made my sister crack up when I told her the story...LOL!

    I'm really glad that I joined the group too. It was really fun!

    I'm looking forward to seeing which recipe you selected Annie. I'm sure which ever one you select will be really delicious. Have a great day today!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kathy, your recipe looks really tasty.

    I have really had a good time making the Small Bites too. I am printing up all of the weekly recipes and have a very full binder for future use.

    Thanks for choosing chick peas!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love chick peas in Chole Batura. I always order that when I go to an Indian restaurant. I wanted to make Chole Batura but after reading the recipe I chickened out. So, I am still trying to decide how to go about cooking the chickpeas for this week.

    Your crostini looks delicious! Can I just copy a tried and successful one? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. i love chick peas - and you probably know they are a great source of protein! A super rainbow photo - almost wants to find that pot of gold ... m

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Nancy, thanks so much for your comments. That's a great idea to keep the recipes in a binder. I should do that too for easy reference. I definitely saw a lot of recipes that I want to try and so many that I want to make again like some of the great salads. I still remember your great photos of all of your preparation items. From that I learned to assemble all my ingredients together before I start rather than going in and out of the cupboards and refrigerator like I usually do. So much more organized and efficient your way.

    Eden, thanks for your comments. I've never tried Chole Batura before. It sounds good. I've never cooked with chick peas before and I really liked the dish. I look forward to seeing what you and everyone prepares...I'm sure they will be delicious and something I'd want to try too. I bought two extra cans of chick peas waiting to be used! I still have to make up a few more ingredients that I missed while I was in Scotland, I think I have Maria's Potatoes, Bugalu's Brie and JGK's Cranberries and Kim's Lentils to do. I might just pick someone's recipe and make it rather than choosing my own. There's so many good ones that I saw.

    Thanks Nancy & Eden. Small Bites was so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kathy,
    Your dish looks great, and sounds easy to make, a winning combination. I really like chickpeas, thanks for choosing them.

    I like the small bites collage of your dishes. I enjoyed it a lot.

    Are you going to participate in Sunday Slow Suppers next? I am looking forward to it, as I can use some dinner recipes.

    Happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi M, thanks so much for your comments. I'm glad you liked my dish and rainbow. I think I've become a great fan of Chick peas through my experience in ST's cooking groups. I'm going to check out what everyone has made and use my other two cans that I bought when making my dish. It's cool that it is also healthy and provides protein.

    Hi Candi, thanks for liking my dish and Collage. I can't believe how much I learned from my experience with our cooking groups. It's been so much fun too. I read that next thread and it sounds like fun too. I'm just not sure that I will be able to participate 100% because of time commitments. I've have really learned and enjoyed myself so much that I'm very tempted to join. I'll check it out... thanks so much for the heads up. Supper recipes is something I am in need of too.

    Have a wonderful weekend M & Candi!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for picking chickpeas, Kathy. I really had fun creating a recipe for this ingredient!

    ReplyDelete
  11. These look delicious. Thanks for picking chickpeas, I love everyone's different ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Deborah, I'm glad you had fun creating a recipe for chick peas. I'll have to go visit your blog and the ST thread after my comments here to see your great dishes.

    Hi Amy, thanks so much for your comments. I enjoyed this ingredient a lot. It's been so much fun and a great learning experience to be a part of the SSB group on ST.

    Have a great day and week.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your crostini looks very yummy! I'm going to make this one soon 'cause I love chickpeas.

    Thanks for picking chickpeas, Kathy. Now I have a few new recipes to try.

    Love the collage you made. It was a lot of fun coming up with new recipes each week. I'm going to skip the food group this time but I'll be following it from the sidelines, like I did with the Soupers.

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Maria, thanks for liking my dish. I've become quite fond of chickpeas too and can see myself making more dishes with them. I'm glad you liked it. I really loved your dish too and everyone came up with some really delicious dishes and I'm happy to have such a great collection to draw from.

    I'm glad you liked my collage. I agree, it was totally fun being a part of the SSB. I'm very tempted to join the next group, but I know that I won't be able to keep up because of more time challenges this spring. I think I might have to sit this group out too but I know that Candi has joined so it will be fun to see her dishes and all the others. I really enjoy reading how others prepare their dishes and it will be fun to read her blog and all the others. I also plan to continue to challenge myself more in cooking. And I'm sorry that I haven't done your Potato ingredient yet, but I intend to make your potato bravas soon, maybe this weekend! It looks so good.

    Thanks again Maria. Hope your transition back home is going well for you. Have a wonderful week and talk to you soon...

    ReplyDelete

It's me Trekcapri (aka Kathy). Thanks so much for visiting and leaving a comment.