In an effort to utilize a vat of sprouted chickpeas leftover from the “raw experiment” I made a big old La Crueset of the Chickpeas Romanesco from Veganomicon. I followed the recipe entirely, with the exception of using the sprouted peas and adding some extra crushed almonds. Served on top of the Garlic-Saffron Rice (also from Veganomicon it made a tasty, comforting meal and I love the crunch of the raw chickpeas! I was a bit surprised about how long both recipes took me to make. They both seemed so easy, and yet had some extra steps (roasting the red peppers, pureeing them with the sauce, toasting the rice with the garlic and adding two different liquids, soaking the saffron) that added cooking time. I was a bit disappointed, too with the rice. All of that garlic (5 cloves!) and saffron and yet, it just didn’t have all that much flavor. Not bad, certainly, but not quite worth the time.

Because my CSA gave me so much broccoli this week, I decided to continue the them and served the Roman-Style Broccoli from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian alongside the chickpeas. I’m not a fan of broccoli in general, but I DO like broccoli with lemon zest and parsley and crushed red pepper. Yum! I added a green salad, and we finished dinner off with some Rice Dream and homemade rhubarb syrup!