This is roast peppers and chickpeas cooked with garlic and a delicious mix of spices, spread on toasted sourdough bread, with a dollop of Greek yogurt and drizzled with olive oil and chilli flakes. I owed the Honest Project a tasty savoury recipe and I wanted to make it a good one. This works as a brunch staple, a delicious lunch or a tasty supper. I like using toast to serve up the roast peppers and chickpeas but they are also good on their own topped with a poached egg or served alongside some crispy sweet potato fries.
Before we get to the recipe, can I just talk about a word I heard this week for the first time and that’s "Locavore". Google dictionary informs me that a locavore is a “person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food”. Just what we need. Another food label to judge people by. Now, according to Twitter, there are many things to feel guilty about, including how we eat. Too many vegetables, too little vegetables; too much meat, not enough meat; food that’s served up with too many air miles, food from restaurants that import ingredients or don’t treat their staff well; processed food, guilt free / guilty pleasure food. There is quite a lot to think about when we are making our shopping lists.
Eating Irish grown vegetables is important to me, and I really wanted my latest recipe to feature locally grown Irish leeks. Unfortunately, I’ve failed miserably in all my recipe attempts and I just couldn't deal with eating any more leeks. So here we are, with a recipe featuring peppers, which are definitely not in season and definitely not grown in Ireland. Twitter has me convinced that I’m breaking the cardinal rule of responsible eating by making this recipe on repeat at the moment. But there are many things to feel guilty about, so I’ve decided that enjoying this Roast Pepper & Chickpea Toast is not going to be one of them. Apologies to any locavores reading this post that worship at the alter of an exclusively local and seasonal diet. I’m about 75% locavore, excuse the other 25% of me.
This dish is pretty easy to make but if you want to make it even easier, instead of roasting fresh peppers at home, buy a jar of pre-roasted peppers. You’ll find them in most supermarkets. Scroll on for the recipe of this Roast Pepper & Chickpea Toast with Yogurt.
Roast Pepper & Chickpea Toast with Yogurt
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 peppers (yellow or red)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 400g tin chickpeas (drained and rinsed)*
2 tbsp tomato paste
4-6 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
Four slices sourdough bread
*If you have a spare ten minutes and are so minded, remove the translucent skin from the chickpeas by wrapping them in a clean tea towel and rubbing them gently. Use you fingers to remove any skins that don’t come off in the towel.
Method
Roast the peppers by placing them in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Once the skin is charred remove from the oven and place in a bowl and cover with a tea towel for five minutes. Then using a sharp knife, remove the core of the peppers and the charred skin so you are left with the roast pepper flesh. Roughly chop the peppers and set to one side. As an alternative to roasting your own peppers, ready roasted peppers can be bought in jars and work perfectly well.
In a pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Finely chop the white onions, and cook them over a low heat for ten minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for a further two minutes. Add the ground cumin and chilli flakes and stir and cook for another minute. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste and season with sea salt and black pepper. Stir well and continue to cook over a low heat for five minutes.
Gently toast 4 slices sourdough bread and spead with butter or drizzle with olive oil. Top with a few spoons of the pepper and chickpea mix. Add a dollop of yogurt. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some chilli flakes on top. Serve immediately.
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