Cooking in a Lockdown!
What a different week this has been! I hope you are all staying safe and well in these very difficult times. We have been cooking this week with what we had in stock – which was mostly lentils and chickpeas, until my delivery of fruit & vegetables yesterday (hooray!).
This dish was created during the week, when I realised an aubergine was the only vegetable left! We have used a similar combination before so immediately thought to pair it with potato and chickpeas.
Is it Complicated?
If you can chop and stir, you can make this! Okay, so the chopping takes some time but if you’re all at home, why not get someone else to do the chopping for you! 😀 It’s ideal if everything is roughly the same size, so base it on your chickpeas (unless you have minuscule pea sized ones like I did the other day – no idea what that was about)! No peeling required either – just scrub the potatoes well and then chop!
First, drain the chickpea liquid into a large baking dish (yes, you do need to use the chickpea liquid but it will taste delicious! 😛 you know who you are!). Next, mix the spices and seasonings into the liquid, then add the potatoes and toss to coat, followed by the aubergine (toss to coat). Lastly stir the chickpeas in then put in the oven! It’s that simple! 😀
What do I eat it with?
You can serve this as a main meal – maybe add a mixed salad, a chopped salad or some coleslaw, depending on what ingredients you have! Add a hunk of fresh homemade bread – if you can find flour and yeast! This will store well in the fridge for 3 days and tastes great cold too. It can also be frozen once cold for up to 3 months. Here’s the recipe!
A quick and easy dish as simple as chopping and baking!
- 2 x 400g tins chickpeas (keep the liquid)
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cajun spice
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- to taste Salt
- 2 large potatoes (scrubbed but unpeeled and cubed)
- 1 large aubergine (washed and cubed)
- 5 cloves garlic (peeled – whole)
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Drain the liquid from the chickpeas into a large ovenproof dish.
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Stir in all the spices & seasonings (garlic, paprika, cumin, cajun, pepper, salt) and mix well.
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Add the cubed potato and toss to coat in the sauce.
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Throw in the aubergine and mix in.
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Scatter the chickpeas over and roughly combine.
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Push the garlic cloves (spaced out) into the dish.
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Bake at a medium heat for 20-40 minutes depending how crispy you prefer it. Check that the potatoes are cooked before removing from the oven. You can mix the dish part way through cooking if the top is browning faster than the potatoes are cooking.
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Enjoy!
Tips for keeping sane in a Lockdown!
Remember to eat proper food (have a search through all our recipes for ideas), exercise at home and stay safe. You could join in at 9am UK time with morning PE lessons with The Body Coach Joe Wick or, just have a dance around to your favourite music! 😛
Have a great weekend – try and make it different to your weekdays to regain a bit of normality! Spend the day tidying the garden – and check that you have a hedgehog highway as we have already seen signs that they are about already! 😀 There are loads of online resources you can access so you could tour a park – how about visiting Central Park, or checking out the views at The Cliffs of Moher? You could go on a virtual museum or a gallery visit, all from the comfort of your home! Whatever you do… do something and keep smiling! 😀
Drop me a line below – I’ll answer comments when I can!
Remember to change the clocks in the UK this weekend! AND… it is Earth Hour this weekend too, so lights out for an hour at 8.30pm Saturday please!???
Speak soon
Laurena x