Name: Lemon and feta roasted chickpeas
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 tin of chickpeas; 3 tbsp olive oil; 60g feta (half a pack); 5 sprigs of thyme; 1/2 a lemon; 1/2 a red onion; 1 clove of garlic; 40g sun-dried tomatoes; 1/2 tsp chilli flakes; Salt and pepper; 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and bread for serving

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You know the feeling you get on holiday when you eat dishes upon dishes of delicious food that you’re not entirely sure what’s in it? This lemon and feta roasted chickpeas recipe is kind of like that.

With the only slight exception that I didn’t discover it on holiday. I came across something similar whilst meandering about the internet thinking about booking a holiday.

I need some sunshine in my life right now, and this felt like the perfect way to provide a few metaphorical rays. It’s light and airy, salty and sharp, tangy, spiced and above all simple to make.

When I say easy I really mean it. There are maybe five or six steps to this recipe, each of them almost simpler than the last. The most involved step is ‘chop and sauté an onion’.

For this minimal effort you will get the pure joy of this dish, and if you so choose to share then you’ll look like you’re a culinary whizz without the hours spent sweating away in the kitchen.

I love these lemon and feta roasted chickpeas because they are:

zesty - those lemons have beautiful flavour
salty - it’s got salt and feta in it, and is all the better for it
spiced - there’s chilli flakes and the option to dust with smoked paprika
it feels like you’re eating at a taverna somewhere by an old stone harbour, but really you’re on your having lunch at the kitchen table.

Lemon and feta roasted chickpeas

Author: Craig
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: Serves 2 1x

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Description

This recipe is inspired by the one I read on Joy The Baker’s beautiful blog last autumn. Hers involves capers, but as I’m not a fan, I opted for sun-dried tomatoes and extra feta instead. This would serve four for lunch (or two if you’re hungry) with crusty bread and a side salad.

Scale

Ingredients

1 tin of chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil
60g feta (half a pack)
5 sprigs of thyme
1/2 a lemon
1/2 a red onion
1 clove of garlic
40g sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika and bread for serving

Instructions

Heat the oven to 200ºC.

Dice your onion and chop the garlic, sauté it in about a third of your oil for about five minutes until it softens and goes translucent.

Take off the heat and transfer into a small roasting tin or oven-proof dish. Drain and rinse your chickpeas and add these to the onion. drizzle over the remaining olive oil. Take the leaves off a couple of sprigs of thyme and scatter over the dish; put the other sprigs on the top.

Use a spatula to mix it all together and get everything covered with oil. Slice your lemon into thin slices and place on top. Cover tightly in foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Whilst it is roasting, slice your chorizo into thin semi-circular slices and if tear up your sun-dried tomatoes if they are large.

Once the first cooking is done, remove it from the oven and scatter the tomatoes and chorizo across it. Mix through and then crumble the feta over the top. Return to the oven and roast for a further 15 minutes.

Serve with large chunks of crusty bread.