Finally, the season for this fruit has arrived!

One thing Jeff looks especially forward to each year around this time is when the markets are flooded with a certain fruit. Sweet, with a rich red color, these little guys finally arrived up here with a killer price... so I took full advantage and bought a bunch. Expect several recipes with this fresh fruit over the next few days - we'll start it off tomorrow with an end of the week Treat Day treat that Jeff brought in today!

Tonight's dinner, Bulgur with Roasted Chickpeas, Red Onion and Lemon, could easily swing either way as a side or main dish, depending on how hungry you may be. We used a coarser bulgur wheat for this dish, but I think it would be fun to try it with millet or even quinoa. As the bulgur was busy hanging out in some hot vegetable broth, we started working on the next portion of this recipe.

Into a skillet goes a lengthy combination of rinsed chickpeas, thinly sliced red onion, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, a couple bay leaves, cumin seeds, a dash of turmeric, smoked paprika and just a bit of cayenne for heat. To give the protein-rich chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) a head start, they are first placed on the stove until they begin to sing and dance around as the heat warms up the oil. The skillet is then transferred into a heated oven to infuse the chickpeas with the tangy, yet smoky flavors from the tart juice and spices added. While I wouldn't say that the chickpeas were crispy, their trip in the oven seemed to transform their texture into a more firm and chewy bite that was very appealing. With quite a zesty flavor combination in the chickpea mixture, once it was combined with the mild chewy grain, the assembled dish balanced itself out well. While it is a meatless dish, I think you could easily toss in some cooked well-seasoned protein of your choice to bump up the filling factor of this recipe. It is pretty dull in the picture below as I didn't have any parsley in the refrigerator, but a few leaves chopped and scattered on top would help freshen up its appearance!

Recipes
Bulgur with Roasted Chickpeas, Red Onion and Lemon