Warm Spiced Chickpea Arugula Salad

I found this recipe on the "Favorite Recipes" page of Mark Bittman's site last week. There are already quite a lot of recipes on my to-cook list but I figure if the guy who knows how to cook everything has singled this salad out as one of his favorites, it's gotta be pretty good, right?

Plus, our arugula was just getting big enough to need thinning and this seemed like a good use for the plants that had to go bye-bye.

So I tested it out the other day and it did not disappoint. It's got a lot going for it - the cumin seeds and ginger lend spice and flavor to the arugula's peppery bite and the satisfying meatiness of the chickpeas and the egg. I also like the way the hot chickpeas wilt the greens a touch. 

Although Bittman's recipe calls for adding the onions raw, I cooked them in my version since I was not in the mood for bad breath raw onion. The main drawback to using cooked onion over raw is that the thin slices of raw red onion would definitely add some visual pizzazz to the dish which the cooked version lacks.

I could not resist composing the salad in this wonderful new green bowl with white and yellow flowers - a birthday gift from my Aunt Katy - the colors matched so well it seemed criminal not to...

This salad makes a good meatless main dish or a great side to accompany a mezze of yummy things like hummus, quinoa, cucumber-yogurt salad, and pickled beets.

Enjoy!

-- print recipe --

Warm Spiced Chickpea Salad with Arugula

Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main dish

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

* 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

* 1 tablespoon minced garlic

* 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

* Dash of red pepper flakes

* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

* 1 1/2 cups cooked or drained canned chickpeas

* 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

* 1 teaspoon honey

* 4 cups arugula leaves

* 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

* 4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and quartered

Directions

1. Put the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the ginger, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, and cumin seeds and cook, stirring constantly, until the ginger and garlic are fragrant and the onion is soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then stir in the chickpeas until hot and coated in the oil and seasonings, about 3 minutes more.

2. Remove from heat and with a fork, stir in the vinegar, honey, and 1 tablespoon water. Mash a few of the chickpeas as you stir to add texture to the dressing. Put the arugula and red onion in a large bowl and toss with the warm chickpea dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with hard-cooked eggs.

You might also like:

• Farro Salad With Roasted Winter Squash, Baby Spinach & Chèvre
• Caramelized Onion & Garlic Hummus Topped with Golden Beets, Toasted Pine Nuts & Greek Yogurt
• Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing & Caramelized Onions

Or these great-looking recipes from some of my favorite food blogs:

• Mediterranean Marinated Chickpeas from Kirsten at From Kirsten's Kitchen To Yours
• Panfried Chickpea Salad from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks
• Crispy Roasted Chickpeas from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen

For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

Grilled Pork Chops With Balsamic-Glazed Peaches

The sun has finally decided to grace us with her presence after literally weeks of rain and generally unrelieved gray gloom. I have not yet found it in my heart to completely forgive the golden orb for her horrendous desertion -- perhaps I'll rise to the occasion in another few days -- if they are sunny ones...

Despite the lingering mistrust in my heart, my mood lifted as soon as I felt the first ray of sunshine on my face. And, perhaps more importantly, my focus has shifted from comfort food to more seasonally appropriate delights, including grilling and EATING OUTSIDE!

I am also on a quest to put a dent in the piles of meat in our chest freezer so I decided to kill two birds with one stone by marinating some chops from a piggy that was raised on a friend's farm across the river in Rhinebeck to toss on the grill.

I decided to accompany them with some decidedly non-local but surprisingly delicious peaches that were given to me by my mom-in-law a few days ago as she headed out of town. The peaches hail from Florida but now that they're here, I don't think it would be fair to hold that against them.

I've wanted to try grilling peaches for years - they always look so good in the magazines, ya know? I was primarily held back by my lack of bbq grill - we only got a real one two years ago.  And by "real", I mean gas-powered -- my hat's off to those of you who like to cook with charcoal but I am lazy and almost never used our little charcoal Weber when we had it. But now we're cooking with gasoline, so to speak.

Unfortunately, this addition to our culinary equipage coincided neatly with the arrival of another, much more time-consuming addition, our son, Will. Needless to say, our adventures in grilling have taken a backseat to the raising of our child. But he's a big boy of two now -- walks, talks, runs, and even uses the potty sometimes -- and it's high time I grilled some f*@#ing peaches, for Christ's sake!

They say good things come to those who wait. And after eating these peaches (and the chops, too, of course), I am inclined to agree. I served the grilled chops and peaches with a side of quinoa and a salad of greens fresh from the garden - it was all good.

Hope you all enjoy the long weekend.

Grilled Marinated Pork Chops With Balsamic-Glazed Peaches

Serves 4

Ingredients

Pork Chops

* 4 good-sized, bone-in pork chops (get something you can feel good about eating - in addition to allowing you a clearer conscience, the meat will taste better, too)

* 1/2 cup olive oil

* 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

* 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

* 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

* 1 tsp kosher salt

* Few grinds black pepper

* Pinch of red pepper flakes

Peaches

* 6-8 ripe peaches

* 1 cup balsamic vinegar

* 1/4 cup molasses

* Few grinds black pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, honey, garlic, salt, black pepper and pepper flakes. Whisk well to combine.

2. Add the pork chops, being sure to coat each one in marinade. Cover and put into the refrigerator and marinate for at least half an hour and up to 6 hours (turn the chops a few times to ensure that all the meat is getting equal access to your yummy marinade.)

3. While you're letting the chops marinate, rinse the peaches and cut them in half, taking care to remove any stems. Now it's time to make the glaze -- in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil; reduce the heat to low and simmer until it is reduced by half, roughly 20-25 minutes. Stir in the molasses and the freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4. Heat grill to medium high heat. Remove the pork chops from the marinade and place on the grill. Grill each pork chop for 3 minutes on each side, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Don't be shy about checking for doneness.

5. Just before the chops are fully cooked, brush the peaches with the glaze and place the peaches on the grill cut-side down. Brush the top side of the peaches with the glaze and grill until they are lightly browned, approximately 2 minutes. Turn them over, brush the cut side with the balsamic glaze again and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

You might also like:

• Grilled Steak With Chimichurri Sauce
• Grilled Asparagus With Asian Marinade
• Fresh Peach Cobbler With Biscuit Topping

Slow-Cooked Pinto Beans With Pork Belly & Skillet Corn Bread

Happy Day After The Rapture to y'all. The good news is that we dodged a bullet on the apocalypse, the bad news is that we're in for a looooong slog of continued wet and shitty weather.

Last week's swiss chard & barley gratin was a good start but a glance at the 10-day weather forecast for Woodstock, NY (picture 10 rainy icons with little lightning bolts on 'em) tells me it's time to get serious about the comfort food. So I'm kicking my game up a notch with this pair of recipes for slow-cooked pinto beans with pork belly and skillet corn bread.

The inspiration for this meal comes from my mom-in-law, Liz, who is a serious devotee of the slow-cooker and also happens to be married to a native of west Texas where this sort of fare hails from. She made this wonderful meal for us a few times this winter and it was a welcome bright spot of satisfying, hearty deliciousness in those cold, dark and snowy months.

There is something magical about the way a bunch of hard, dried beans and some pieces of fatty pork turn into a rich, savory treat with the simple additions of stock, vegetables and time.

I don't have a slow-cooker but I'm happy to report that these beans are equally delicious when made in a dutch oven. I did not have the forethought to soak the pinto beans overnight the day before I made this so I used the quick method (outlined below in the directions) to prepare them for cooking, instead. Turned out great!

Once the beans were ready, I added a very roughly chopped mirepoix of carrots, celery and onions, threw in the pork belly (which I cut into a few large chunks to ensure that the beans would get more even exposure to its delightful fatty porkiness), and a big handful of thyme sprigs from our plant. Then I covered it all with a mixture of chicken stock and water and let it stew for a good long while (we're talking many hours!)

Once the beans were truly soft and the pork belly was falling apart, I took the chunks of pork belly out, removed the meat from the fat, threw away the hunks of fat and returned the meat to the pot of now-delicious beans for a little more cooking.

Meanwhile, it was time to make the cornbread. It's a simple but scrumptious bread that makes a perfect foil for a soupy, savory pot of beans. The recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's.

While I was mixing the batter, I placed the skillet in the oven to let it and the bacon drippings in it heat up. This is the trick to getting a nice crusty bottom on the cornbread. When the batter was ready, I removed the skillet and poured the batter in. The cold, wet batter made the most satisfying sizzle as it met the skillet's hot, fat-covered iron. Then back into the oven it went to bake.

A mere 30 minutes later, it emerged from the oven, nicely browned and with the aforementioned crispy bottom.

I regret that this final picture does neither the deliciousness nor the aesthetic pleasure of the meal justice. By the time we got around to eating it, we were all starving, it was dark out (my indoor lighting situation is far from ideal and I have yet to find time to remedy it) and our son was cranky, hence the less than stellar photo below. But let me assure you that the end result was truly mouth-watering.

Try this recipe out when you can do the bulk of the cooking the day before you plan to serve it as it requires time to develop its flavors and get the pork to that tender, falling apart place.

-- print recipe --

Slow-Cooked Pinto Beans With Pork Belly

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

* 1 lb dried pinto or great northern beans
* 1 pork belly (you can also use a large ham hock)
* 1 large onion, diced
* 3 large carrots, diced
* 3 large ribs celery, diced
* 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
* 1 3/4 quarts sodium-free chicken broth or stock
* Handful of fresh thyme
* 1 tsp hot sauce
* 3 Tbsps molasses (pomegranate or blackstrap), honey, or sugar
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions 

1. Prepare the beans for cooking. Sort the beans, removing any small stones, dark or oddly-shaped beans, then rinse with cool water. Place the beans in a large pot or bowl, cover with water by 2 inches, and soak for 8-12 hours or overnight. At the end of that time, discard the soaking water and rinse the beans. This last step improves cooking time and may reduce gas-causing compounds.

If you don't have all day, you can also use the "quick" prep method for the beans: sort and rinse the beans, then place them in a pot and add water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Bring to a boil,  remove from heat and allow the beans to sit for one hour, covered. Drain, rinse and cook.

2. Put the prepared beans, pork belly, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, hot sauce, molasses or honey in a large dutch oven and add the chicken broth. If the liquid does not cover the ingredients, add more stock or water to bring it up a bit more. Please note that you should not add salt until much later in the process when the beans are finished cooking as salt will prevent the beans from getting tender.

3. Cook, partially covered, on medium to low heat (you want this barely simmering) for 4-8 hours until the beans are creamy and tender and the meat from the pork belly is falling to pieces. Remove the pork belly and separate the meat from the fat, returning the meat to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste and make any other adjustments needed -- you may find that you want to add a splash of lime juice, hot sauce or molasses to bring the flavors in line with what you're looking for.  Cook for another 10-20 minutes to meld the flavors.

4. Serve with skillet corn bread. Enjoy!

Skillet Corn Bread

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

* 11/4 cups buttermilk, milk, or yogurt (use organic)
* 2 tablespoons bacon drippings, butter or extra virgin olive oil
* 11/2 cups medium-grind cornmeal
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 11/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1-2 tablespoons molasses or honey (you can use more if you like sweet corn bread)
* 1 egg (use organic, pasture-raised)

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. Place the skillet in the oven while you mix the ingredients to allow time for the bacon drippings (or butter or oil) to heat up.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the egg into the buttermilk. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients (just enough to combine); if it seems too dry, add another tablespoon or two of buttermilk. Pour the batter into the prepared skillet or pan, smooth out the top if necessary, and put in the oven.

4. Bake about 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and the sides have pulled away from the pan; a toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean. Serve hot or warm.

You might also like:

• Basic Beef Stew With a Hint of Moroccan Flavor
• Maple Roasted Yams With Bacon & Beer
• Maple-Glazed Meatloaf With Rolled Oats & Fresh Thyme
• Ratatouille & Sausage Potpie With Cornmeal Biscuit Topping
• Short Ribs With Root Vegetables & Spring Herbs

Or check out these delicious-looking bean recipes from some of my favorite blogs:

• Baked Vegetarian Heirloom Beans from Margaret at A Way To Garden
• Hot and Smoky Baked Beans from Deb at Smitten Kitchen
• Giant Chipotle White Beans from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks

For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.