Look Mom! Low Carbs!

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Gluten-free. I can't think of a bigger bummer than not being able to eat bread. So imagine my surprise when I made Ottolenghi's 100% gluten-free recipe for "Swiss Chard and Chickpea Saute" and it tasted just like... Rye bread! The magic of caraway seeds! 

I regularly pay $9 a pound for a delicious chickpea salad at the Italian grocer around the corner from my office, and I’d always thought that I ought to be able to create something equally as delicious at home.

Turns out I was right and Ottolenghi had a nearly perfect recipe for me. As I mentioned last week, his recipes in Plenty are amazing but cooking from it can be really ambitious, especially on a weeknight. But his recipe for "Swiss Chard and Chickpea Sauté" sounded really appealing and didn't read too complicated. Ottolenghi suggests that if you can’t find swiss chard (which the first time I tried this for some reason I could not) that spinach and arugula make excellent substitutions, with the added benefit that you don’t have to precook them!

I can make this sauté any night of the week in about 15 minutes by eliminating the chard prep and simplifying things by using canned chickpeas. It’s delicious and filling served at room temperature mixed with Greek yogurt to make it a full lunch.  

But the thing I really love about this recipe is the fact it has the deeply satisfying smack of rye bread with none of the gluten and few of the carbs! Thank you caraway seeds! Don't be tempted to skip the caraway seeds (or the mint or cilantro for that matter) they 100% make the dish. Go out of your way to buy them because I guarantee you will be making this again.    

Gluten-Free “Sly Rye" Chickpea Sauté

Makes 2-3 large size portions

-       4 cups spinach

-       4 cups arugula

-       4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into rounds

-       1 teaspoon caraway seeds

-       2 cans chickpeas, drained of liquid

-       1 garlic clove, crushed with a garlic press

-       1 tablespoon mint, chopped

-       1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

-       1 tablespoon lemon juice

-       Salt and pepper

-       Greek yogurt

-       Olive Oil

The only real active prep here is chopping the herbs (which you already mastered here) and prepping the carrots. Buying whole, raw carrots is weirdly satisfying and also extremely price efficient. Get a few of the big solo ones at the store and you’re good to go. Carrot prep is pretty intuitive and easy, so long as you have a good vegetable peeler (I personally prefer a swivel peeler to a classic). When you use the peeler just execute even strokes down the carrot from the top (where the greens attach) down towards the pointy tip. After you’ve peeled just cut even round slices and waste as little of the carrot as possible. Prep’s done. Time to cook. 

Get down your trusty nonstick saucepan (using nonstick makes the clean up on this a breeze and saves you even more time). Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots and the caraway seeds and sauté for about 5 minutes over medium heat while you savor how damn good those caraway seeds smell cooking.

Add your arugula and spinach and continue cooking for another 6 minutes or so. Two things to note here, the first being that all the greens might not fit right away and you may have to add them in batches as they wilt and more space frees up in the pan. The second being, that, in my opinion, this combination of greens smells a little funky while cooking, but don’t be turned off by this. It’s all about the end result!

Now add the garlic. Here’s another hack. Buy a really good garlic press! Never prep garlic ever again. Hell you don’t even have to peel it with the one I have! Just chuck the whole clove in, press it, and voila you’ve got basically the same thing as minced garlic.

Also add the cilantro, mint, lemon juice (again a citrus press like this will change your life!) and some salt and pepper (to taste). Give it all a stir and shut down the heat and let it cool down.

This dish tastes phenomenal warm but for lunch I prefer it at room temperature. Grab your lunch container and put a good sized portion of the sauté in along with a ½ cup or so of Greek yogurt. Keep it in the fridge when you get to work but take it out about 15 minutes before you want to eat to let it come up to room temperature. The flavors are much better this way. Stir some olive oil and pepper into the yogurt to compliment the savory of the sauté.

Sit at your desk and wonder why it has taken you so long to get on the savory yogurt topping train.