Roasted Broccoli with Feta and Chickpeas

This. This is the menu of one of the holiday parties I’m going to this week. I really don’t know how I’m going to choose each course because I want ALL OF IT. If I had to pick right this second, I would choose the lamb tartare, the tagliarini with the sepia and roe, the salmon rillet, and the sablefish. Clearly fishy. I want equal parts of the corned elk tongue and water buffalo. This menu kills me.

Until then, I’ll just eat roasted broccoli, feta, and chickpeas. It’s not the same, so I’m not even going to pretend it is. It’s cheap. It’s surprisingly filling. It’s really, really good if you’re into roasted greenery [or feta, let’s be honest].

Inspiration: The Forest Feast

Ingredients

• 1 head of broccoli, cut into bite size pieces. That includes the stem. I’m a fan of that
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta [I really don’t know how much I actually used…I like cheese]
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 450°. While it’s heating up, toss the broccoli in a bowl with a heavy splash of olive oil and salt and pepper. Next time I’d add chili flakes and maybe some cumin. Smokey.

Spread the broccoli out on a baking pan in a nice even layer. No touching. Soggy broccoli is no bueno. You want nice crispy edges and you get that by creating space. I used a silpat for easy clean up, but aluminum foil would do the same thing.

After 10-15 minutes, and those edges are nice and crispy, remove the broccoli from the oven. Toss it in another bowl with the chickpeas and top with the feta. Another drizzle of olive oil and some more salt and pepper to taste, and you’re golden.

This lasted me two days. Dinner and lunch the next day.