A few months back, I shared our interests in sprucing up our side dishes. We came up with a few successful recipes including butternut squash risotto and a cauliflower paste that can build a vegetable into your main dish. Last week we adapted a recipe from Every Day with Rachael Ray. She prepared lamb chops and ... mashed chickpeas. What the what!? I didn't know that was even a thing!
We served pork chops instead of lamb, but used her recipe for a lemon rub. This rub would be great with any meat of your choosing.
Here's what you'll need...
For the meat:
1 lb boneless pork chops
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons garlic
Juice from one lemon
For the mashed chickpeas:
2 cans chickpeas (14 oz)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons thyme
To prepare this recipe, we use a food processor, but you can use a blender instead.
Let's get started...
We served pork chops instead of lamb, but used her recipe for a lemon rub. This rub would be great with any meat of your choosing.
Here's what you'll need...
For the meat:
1 lb boneless pork chops
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons garlic
Juice from one lemon
For the mashed chickpeas:
2 cans chickpeas (14 oz)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons thyme
To prepare this recipe, we use a food processor, but you can use a blender instead.
Let's get started...
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Season your meat cuts with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and half of garlic. Let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. If you have time to marinate over night, the flavors will be richer, especially for boneless cuts.
3. While the meat marinates, chop your onion and cook through with remaining garlic, olive oil, and thyme. Cook until the onions are transparent.
4. Your oven should be ready to get the meat going for about 30 minutes.
2. Season your meat cuts with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and half of garlic. Let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. If you have time to marinate over night, the flavors will be richer, especially for boneless cuts.
3. While the meat marinates, chop your onion and cook through with remaining garlic, olive oil, and thyme. Cook until the onions are transparent.
4. Your oven should be ready to get the meat going for about 30 minutes.
5. Add vegetable stock to the onions, and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
6. Once boiling, reduce heat and stir in tomato paste until the liquid has thickened evenly.
6. Once boiling, reduce heat and stir in tomato paste until the liquid has thickened evenly.
7. Remove the sauce from the heat. In batches, puree the sauce with your rinsed chickpeas and parmesan cheese. Return each batch to the stove top over low heat.
8. Once your meat is cooked to a safe temperature, plate on top of a hefty spoonful of mashed chickpeas.
We served ours with a side spinach, cucumber, and feta salad. The meat would have been better had we let it spend a few moments under a broiler before serving.
The mashed chickpeas could definitely serve as a substitute for mashed potatoes -- not Thanksgiving or anything, but definitely on any given Tuesday. They kept well for lunch leftovers and could be reheated. Michael is not as thrilled with them as I would like, but he is interested in keeping our side dish variations up. What do you do to avoid rice, pasta, and mashed potatoes from your filling the gaps on your dinner plate day in and day out?
The mashed chickpeas could definitely serve as a substitute for mashed potatoes -- not Thanksgiving or anything, but definitely on any given Tuesday. They kept well for lunch leftovers and could be reheated. Michael is not as thrilled with them as I would like, but he is interested in keeping our side dish variations up. What do you do to avoid rice, pasta, and mashed potatoes from your filling the gaps on your dinner plate day in and day out?
