baked chickpeas with fresh cheese and spinach

By gwen -
from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

This recipe uses Bittman's Spicy Indian Tomato Sauce, the recipe for which is also in this book, but it was too time-consuming the night I wanted to make this. (The rest of the recipe takes about one second to assemble.) I wound up sort of cribbing from the sauce recipe: I took store-bought tomato sauce, heated it in a pan and added some coconut milk to thin it out. I put in some curry powder, masala spices, chili powder and fresh cilantro. It was delicious, but probably not as good as it would be with the full recipe. Some manipulation is definitely necessary, I think -- I thought about using plain tomato sauce but I think the dish would have been too bland without the spices.

I'm going to transcribe the recipe with the spinach that I used -- it's one of his million variations.

In place of the paneer, you can use tofu, feta cheese, farmer cheese or queso fresco. Serve with biryani, Indian flatbread or baked potatoes. (I just ate it plain.)


4 T melted butter
1 recipe Spicy Indian Tomato Sauce (or just... some tomato sauce)
4 c cooked or drained canned chickpeas
1 1/2 c cubed fresh cheese
1/2 c fresh cilantro or parsley
1 1b. fresh (I used frozen) spinach blanched, squeezed dry and chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Use a T or so of the butter to greatse a two-quart souflee dish or a 9x13-inch baking dish. Make sure the tomato sauce is warm.

2. Spread the tomato sauce in the dish and spread the spinach evenly around on top. Spoon the beans on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the cheese cubes around evenly, pressing them into the sauce and beans a bit. Drizzle with the remaining butter.

3. Bake until the sauce is bubbly and the tops of the cheese and beans have browned a bit, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with cilantro and a few more grinds of black pepper.

Comments

Alissa said…
That sounds really good. I've been all about bean dishes lately... I'm trying to eat less meat and more fish and beans and things like that. Plus, you know me and cheese. Mm. Cheese.
5:34 PM
Unknown said…
Can you post the tomato recipe he has in the book?
9:46 PM
Anonymous said…
Sure... stand by...

Also, this was seriously delicious cheese. The top was all browned and then it was a little melty on the inside, but still held its shape. MM CHHESE.
4:40 PM
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