Chickpea and Spinach Stew

Eastside Road, July 19, 2010—

CASUAL READERS of this blog will have noted that we are not vegetarians, no, not really. But one of the most-consulted cookbooks in a fairly big collection here is Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which I think of as an indispensable general-purpose cookbook, clear and resourceful and inspiring to read.

(I should probably mention that Deborah's an old friend, a dear old friend, and an intelligent and good-humored woman, and that her husband Pat McFarlin is just as clever, funny, and loyal. If you want to see the two of them working together, get a copy of What We Eat When We Eat Alone, which is hilarious, and beautiful, and truthful, like its authors.)

Anyhow yesterday Lindsey cooked up enough garbanzos for two meals, setting one batch aside for this tasty one-dish meal, p. 310 of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Olive oil, onion, garlic, red pepper, paprika, rosemary, parseley, tomatoes, garbanzos, salt and pepper, spinach, garlic mayonnaise. Cook it, the spinach separately; combine it; serve it and eat it, maybe with a couple of slices of garlic-rubbed olive-oiled toast. Delicious.

Cool water