Stewed Garbanzos; Chickpeas

Yesterday's garbanzo recipe. Always read the entire recipe ingredients and procedure before starting to cook

Short version
Sauté onion with cumin & garlic 'til lightly browned. Add other ingredients, boil briefly, reduce.

Ingredients
olive oil (for sautéing)
1 onion, fine julienne (slices)
1 t cumin (seeds, preferably; or ground)
1 clove garlic, minced
salt (sea or something chunky)

400 gr garbanzo beans, chickpeas, canned or jarred [14oz]) Do not drain the beans
1 tomato, roma, plum (meaty type), cubed to size of garbanzos
1 t paprika (red, not hot) or more, to taste
1 T pine nuts (piñones)
1 t honey (good stuff)

Procedure

1. 4-5 T of oil in the bottom of a sautee pan, heat until oil crinkles, just before smoking
2. add onions &
   cumin seeds
   - reduce heat
   - sautee, browning lightly (10 minutes maybe)
   
3. add minced garlic and
   some salt (1/4 t?) when onions start to brown
   I made mine onions quite thoroughly browned although not carmelized
4. Add garbanzos (including the liquid) and the rest of the ingredients.
5. Bring to a boil for 1 minute
6. Reduce heat
   Can be prepared to here hours (a day) in advance; in which case, remove from heat
   
7. Reduce liquid, on medium heat, to a saucy consistency
   

Hints

• The onions are sliced very finely in julienne
  
• Chop the tomatoes so that the pieces are about the same size as the garbanzo beans. It's one of the "tricks" of the professional kitchen to make the various ingredients the same size
• Add more tomato for more color
  
• A typical variant of this recipe adds a bunch of saffron in to the mix (with the paprika stage)
• The pine nuts are not very obvious in this dish; maybe I'll double the quantiy next time
  
• Add water if you don't have enough garbanzo juice to make it saucy. No need to be worried about adding water if you're reducing the sauce later.
  
• Boiling the garbanzo beans briefl seems to make the texture more "potato like" rather than the floury texture that they have right out of the jar.
  

Cooking for Family

Brocolli, Halibut, Garbanzos
Posted by willsong

The brocolli is steamed (in the micro). The skinless halibut fillet is sauteed. The garbanzos are cooked (or one might say stewed).

New Years' Day First Meal - Update

I never posted that picture I was meaning to; of the table as they served the coffee at the end of the meal. Here is one view of it:

Yes. that's 5 different wines (they took away the port and dessert wine after serving though, so the collection is incomplete). No, they are not all empty. A single glass (small) was enjoyed of each one with each appropriate dish (nor was the glass always finished). It really does make for a fine meal; Not the alcohol but the pairing of wine to food.

Spanish Omelet; Tortilla

Made with Onions and no potatoes. Atkins friendly.

I've done these before and shall do them again - lots. I prefer the onion version to the traditional potato one.

Croquettes

Those are croquettas, croquettes, krokets. More on them later.

I really must get back to blogging. There's been something of a pause since the big hard drive failure; which was somewhat depressing. Sorry to leave you, my loyal audience, at loose ends.

I've got quite a backlog to take care of and tomorrow I'm going on vacation for 3 weeks to boot. That should provide some interesting material and many low quality pictures from my camera-phone.
Today, by the way, is Charissa's birthday. Have a happy.

As for the croquettes... there's a place I go to for lunch every so often; El Cafetin, in the Carrefour shopping center down the road a bit.

Here in Spain there's a big restaurant business to be done in inexpensive sit down lunches. A starter/salad, main course with vegs, dessert/coffee and wine - a package deal. Typically about 9 Euros around here.

Anyway, this modest restaurant is run by a fellow who's obviously serious about producing good food and not just slinging steaks. The point is not the croquettes themselves but that they're presented on a plate with superfine string potatoes, fine shredded carrot and a cherry tomato. Way more than is strictly required; and it turns out that the carrot slivers and the fried potato strings are really tasty together. A special effort. And part of what keeps me going back.