On Thursday, March 13th I came to Vermont with friends with the plan of staying for a weekend and returning on Sunday. Over the course of those 72 hours, things seemed to go wild in New York.
As a result, we decided to stay a few days longer. A few days turned into a week, and a week turned into a few weeks, and as of this coming Thursday, a few weeks will have turned into a month. I’m lucky to be safe, healthy, and with friends, and even luckier to be with friends who like to eat.
My therapist isn’t licensed to practice in Vermont and so I’ve been channeling my stress into increasingly-frequent bouts of moodiness, long walks, and cooking dinner every night.
The lighting at the dining-room table is sub prime, but it’s good enough to capture the deeply roasted melt in your mouth eggplant, and the crisp chickpeas we had last week. The yogurt is thinned with water, a drizzle of olive oil, and grated garlic. Crispy onions are the easiest way to turn anything into a culinarily masterpiece. If every recipe were rated with ability to warm your heart and take you elsewhere, this would score in the top tier every time.
Zaatar Chickpeas and Eggplant with Garlic Yogurt and Crispy Fried Onions
Ingredients:
For chickpeas and eggplant:
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 cans of chickpeas
- Olive oil
- 2 tbsp zaatar
- Kosher salt
For yogurt sauce:
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- ¼ cup room temp water
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 tbsp cumin
- Kosher salt
For crispy onions:
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 tbsp flour
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Cube the eggplant (think 1 ½ to 2 inch chunks), salt generously, and dump onto one half of the baking sheet. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Toss chickpeas in a tablespoon of olive oil and zaatar. Spread the chickpeas on the other half of the baking sheet. They should be in a single layer; if they seem too crowded, or your baking sheet is on the smaller side, use a second baking sheet. If the chickpeas are on top of each other they’ll steam rather than crisp. Salt the chickpeas, and bake for 40-50 minutes until eggplant is tender and chickpeas are roasted and crisp, turning half way through.
While the chickpeas and eggplant roast, whisk all of the yogurt sauce ingredients together until smooth and blended. Salt to taste, and add more cumin if you want it spicier. Set aside.
20 minutes before the chickpeas and eggplant are done, thinly slice the onions. Coat in the flour. Line a plate with a paper towel. Heat oil so it is about half an inch deep in a deep pot or frying pan. A dutch oven would be ideal, but I just used a skillet. Whatever you use, don’t crowd the onions. For a smaller skillet like I used, work in two batches. Once the oil is quite hot, fry the onions, turning only once, until they’re crispy and brown. Using tongs, move the onions from the pan to the paper towels, and salt generously. Don’t turn the onions or stir them; spread them out to prevent them from steaming and getting soggy.
Mix the chickpeas and eggplant together, and serve with a generous spoonful of yogurt sauce and handful of fried onions. We had this over rice with roasted cauliflower and a lemony, herby salad on the side.
Cool Girl Chef 