Greenfeast. Nigel Slater

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PEPPERS, CHICKPEAS, GARLIC

      Earthy and garlicky. A smooth cream for warm flatbread.

       Serves 4, as a side dish

      red peppers 500g

      olive oil

      garlic 6 cloves

      chickpeas 2 × 400g cans

      thyme 4 sprigs

      bay leaves 2

      paprika a pinch or two

      Set the oven at 200°C/Gas 6. Slice the peppers in half lengthways, remove the seeds, then place the halves in a roasting tin. Trickle a little olive oil over the peppers, just enough to wet them, then set the unpeeled garlic cloves inside them. Bake for forty minutes or until they are soft and the skin somewhat blackened. Remove from the oven, then peel away their outer skins. Reserve the garlic and any juices in the roasting tin.

      Drain and rinse the chickpeas, pop them from their skins if you wish, then tip them into a saucepan, add the thyme and bay and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, then simmer for fifteen minutes.

      Drain the cooked chickpeas, reserve the thyme (discard the bay), then tip all but a handful of the chickpeas into the bowl of a food processor with the roasted, skinned peppers. Add the thyme leaves (discard the stalks) then pop the roasted garlic from its skin and add it as well. Process to a smooth cream and season generously with salt and black pepper. Scoop the paste out into a serving dish, making a hollow in the centre with the back of a spoon.

      Heat the reserved chickpeas in a little olive oil in a frying pan and cook for a few minutes till they start to turn gold. Pour a little olive oil over the paste, letting it trickle into the hollow, scatter the warm chickpeas over the surface, then dust lightly with the paprika.

      • A hummus of sorts. (I am uncomfortable with calling something by that name that contains anything other than chickpeas, garlic, lemon and oil.) I do think it is worth skinning the chickpeas (I know, I know, but once you have done so, you may never look back). You can do it painstakingly, pea by pea, or simply rub them together in your palms, a handful at a time. Either way will result in a smoother mash. Your call.

      • I have been known to sit with this and a pile of warm Turkish pitta, but it is also a fine side dish for cold roast meats, grilled aubergines, and my favourite, deep-fried artichokes.

POMEGRANATE, CUCUMBER, PUFFED RICE

      Aromatic, crunchy, refreshing.

       Serves 4, as a side salad

      a small pomegranate

      cucumber 400g

      coriander seeds 1 teaspoon

      cumin seeds 1 teaspoon

      groundnut oil 2 tablespoons

      garam masala 1 teaspoon

      curry powder 1 teaspoon

      almonds 50g, whole and skinned

      chickpeas 1 × 400g can

      hemp seeds 30g

      sunflower seeds 30g

      puffed rice, unsweetened 30g

      parsley a handful

      olive oil

      Crack open the pomegranate and remove the seeds, putting them into a mixing bowl and discarding any white pith as you go. Peel the cucumber, lightly, leaving as much colour as you can, then cut in half lengthways. Scrape out the seeds and pith with a teaspoon and discard, then cut the flesh into small dice. Toss the cucumber and pomegranate together.

      Put the coriander and cumin seeds in a shallow pan and warm them over a gentle heat. Let them cook, moving them around the pan, until crisp and fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and tip the toasted seeds into a mortar. Crush them to a fine powder.

      Warm the groundnut oil in the shallow pan, then, keeping the heat low, add the coriander and cumin, garam masala and curry powder, then the almonds. Warm the nuts and spices, moving everything round the pan so it doesn’t burn. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and stir them into the spices and almonds, together with the hemp and sunflower seeds and the СКАЧАТЬ