Chickpea Spread

Chickpea based recipes for salads and spreads have been emerging from food bloggers' kitchens all over the place, so I decided to try my hand at this new idea. Sure, it's already been done, but not by me!

I walked through the front door with a heavy duffel bag in one hand and a plastic grocery bag of sauces and condiments leftover from my "pantry" (one shelf) and fridge at school. Immediately I am greeted by my 12 year old dog, a small cocker spaniel who wiggles and wags her lack of a tail so hard that she sometimes falls over. If you are not familiar with cocker spaniels, they might be the happiest dogs on earth. Or maybe it's just my dog; Nothing but sleep can dull her spirits enough to stop her from wiggling. This dog's obliques and butt are more toned than Cameron Diaz and Baron Baptiste's.

After a 5 hour drive I was starving, so instead of humoring my dog like the person I aspire to be would, I headed for the kitchen. No worries, friends, I played with my dog and took her for a walk after feeding the beast (my stomach).

So here is where you learn more about my kitchen and cooking habits. I got to the kitchen, and of course, there was nothing there. When I am away at school my parents do not cook. Maybe I've fooled you, but a large majority of my recipes and kitchen creations are spawned from the absence of ingredients. I work with what's around. If I have a dish in mind when I go to the grocery store I'll make a point to buy the ingredients, but it's rare that I'll be sitting around one day fantasizing about a peach tart, then make a special trip to get the ingredients. In fact, I'll challenge myself to do that soon because it is a romantic notion to focus time, energy, and of course some lovin' on one sweet kitchen creation, specifically peach tart. Usually I find creativity comes out of restriction, which is where this recipe came from. I found a can of chickpeas, a quarter of an onion, half a roma tomato, and half a lemon in the fridge. I pulled pesto, coarse grain mustard, and a container of yogurt out of the bag I had brought home and went to work:

Chickpea Spread
1/2 can chickpeas
2 tbsp pesto
1 tbsp onion, diced
A marble sized scoop of coarse grain mustard
1/4 a lemon's juice
1/4 c plain greek yogurt (more or less)
1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
Bread


-In a medium bowl, mash the chickpeas with a fork
-Mix in the pesto, onion, mustard, and lemon juice
-Add the yogurt as your last ingredient and mix everything until it is well combined
-Slice and toast some bread, spread the chickpea mixture on top, then top with some tomatoes

Pair this recipe with:
French Baguette
Italian Spiced Whole Wheat Bread