Blue Cayenne

We all have our unicorns–those elusive “finds” that we search for and can’t quite grasp.

This is one of mine.

Chickpea Sandwich Filling. (I know. I know. My search is a modest one.  But still….)

I’ve always known it could be done. I’ve tried recipes for the filling more times than I care to mention… always to disappointment.

Until now.

This recipe is inspired by a number of recipes online including Vegan Tuna Salad from The Cheeky Chickpea  here and the Chickpea Salad Sandwich from the New York Times here.

Rough puff. It’s a thing among home bakers–a shortcut to glorious puff pastry.

What’s the big deal about puff pastry? The magic of puff pastry (and rough puff) is the moisture in the generous amount of butter that is incorporated into the dough. As the pastry bakes, the butter melts and forms steam. In a successful bake, the steam is strong enough to lift and separate the layers of the dough. Voila! You have a flaky, buttery, delightful pastry.

I gave puff pastry the old college try. I took a puff pastry class (croissants, etc.) at The Sur La Table Cooking School. It was a challenging class and I ended up repeating it, hoping that I could master that skill. But, alas, those big rectangular blocks of cold cold cold butter folded between layers of delicate pastry dough got the better of me. You kind of had to be chained to the refrigerator to keep the butter cold enough as you folded it. Even the heat of your hands was an issue. And, you folded and folded and folded…and folded. Whew!

Then I heard about rough puff–a lot less folding, butter added in big chunks rather than sheets, and, while not an absolute match for puff pastry, it is a tasty and flaky substitute.

So, this week, when one-time pastry chef at Alice Waters’ legendary Chez Panisse Restaurant and now a Paris-based blogger and cookbook author David Lebovitz, featured a rough puff Apple Tart with great photographs of the process, I paid attention (and baked Apple Tarts).

Here is  the link to his blog, the great Apple Tart recipe and those how-to photographs: Apple Tart and Rough Puff.  His cookbooks are available on Amazon and at your local bookstore.

Need some recipes for dinner dishes that you can make right from the pantry? There are nights when I sure do!

Here is a cookbook for you to consider. It is Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Shelf Love. The premise of the book is just that—recipes you can mostly make for an impromptu meal right off the pantry shelf.

These are not boring recipes, either. No boxed macaroni and cheese or tuna casserole here. This book is full of truly interesting recipes like this one for Confit Tandoori  Chickpeas. You can put it together in about half an hour and have it on the table after about an hour and fifteen minutes of baking. Combine the dish with some pillowy pita bread (or naan) and you will have quite a meal. The minty yogurty sauce that accompanies this dish is fantastic. You’ll  certainly want to use it with other dishes.

And did I mention that Confit Tandoori Chickpeas has eleven (11!) cloves of garlic? You can ward off a whole neighborhood of werewolves with eleven cloves of garlic!