Chickpeas

I was inspired by one of the blogs I read to get my dried chickpeas out of the pantry. I changed up the recipe a little (go figure), since I didn't have all the ingredients and had vowed not to go back to the grocery store until next week to get the next batch of ingredients for the roast chickens.

Here's the recipe: Chickpeas with Sausage and Peppers.

And here are the substitutions: mild Italian sausage for the spicy sausage (remember my stomach, plus these were in the freezer), canned artichoke hearts for the peppers, and white wine for the sherry. I'm sure it ended up being a pretty different dish, but it was yum, and my husband went back for seconds.

As I said, I used dried chickpeas. I'm pretty impatient and don't soak my beans overnight. I've always had success using the following method to "quick soak" dried beans.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried beans
• 3 cups water
• 1 Tsp salt

Directions:

• Add dried beans and water to a pot.
• Bring to a boil.
• Allow to boil for 2 minutes.
• Put on a lid and turn off the heat.
• Set the timer for an hour.
• After one hour, add salt, bring beans to a boil.
• As soon as they come to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until tender--which will vary according to what kind of bean you are cooking. The chickpeas took about 2 hours.