Lemony Chickpeas

Late February and I can feel spring coming in the way you can feel a large inevitable thing approaching — not here yet, clearly not here, but on the way and no longer deniable. I have been making lighter things this week, subconsciously maybe, as if the cooking itself is pivoting toward what is coming. A grain salad with roasted vegetables and feta. A simple chicken breast with preserved lemon I made last fall and have been hoarding. The heaviness of January soup is starting to lift and I am letting it.

My birthday is nine days away. I will be 26. Ryan asked what I wanted to do and I said the same thing I want every birthday: dinner at home, something I love, just us. He said he would handle dinner this year, which he has said before with mixed results — not because he cannot cook but because he cooks like a firefighter, which is to say: everything is too much and also perfect. The only birthday dinner he has made me so far was the one he made when I came home from Jess grave on her third anniversary in 2019, which was technically not my birthday but was the right dinner at the right time, and I have been thinking about that dinner all week.

I have started actually running again, which I stopped in March 2020 and have been meaning to restart for approximately eleven months. The neighborhood in late February morning is quiet in a way that I find useful — just me and the lake wind and the sound of my shoes and the awareness that my body, which has done a lot of sedentary anxious cooking this past year, is capable of more. Three times this week. My lungs are unhappy about it. My brain is not.

Wedding: two months and three weeks. We had the final catering planning call with Patty this week and the menu is set. Everything is being made by family. Babcia Rose has been told she is the star. She said she knows. She always knew.

The grain salad I mentioned — the one I’ve been making almost on instinct this week — kept pulling me toward something lemony, something with that particular sharpness that cuts through the last of February’s heaviness. This lemony chickpea dish is the version I keep coming back to when I want food that feels like it’s already looking forward: simple enough that it doesn’t demand anything from you, bright enough that it convinces you spring is closer than the calendar says. It’s the kind of thing I make when my body is already pivoting before my brain has caught up.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
2 oz crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Crusty bread or cooked farro, for serving

Instructions

Dry the chickpeas. Spread the drained chickpeas on a clean kitchen towel and pat them thoroughly dry. The drier they are, the better they’ll crisp in the pan.
Build the base. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes, until the bottoms begin to turn golden and slightly crisp.
Add aromatics. Stir the chickpeas, then add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3–4 minutes until the garlic is golden and fragrant and the chickpeas have crisped on multiple sides.
Season and brighten. Remove the pan from heat. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, stirring to coat. The chickpeas will sizzle when the juice hits the pan — that’s exactly right.
Finish and serve. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, fold in the parsley, and taste for salt. Scatter feta over the top if using. Serve warm over farro or with crusty bread alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Lemony Chickpeas — The Light That Comes Before Spring