Chickpeas

I was once adamant that chickpeas be cooked from dry. I wanted the long, slow process of soaking, simmering, and skimming. I wanted it to take all night. Something more than a fleeting fling. Something more than a thirty-minute meal.

Over the course of those long nights, I came to love chickpeas. Delicately dipping a spoon into the thickening water to pluck a single chickpea pearl from the lot. Testing it with my teeth to see if it resisted or had meltingly submitted to time and temperature. I got to know the pulse. I saw the beauty of a chickpea in any form—unadorned straight from the pot, dressed up with a bunch of butter and garlic, blended until creamy and spread across a slab of toast. Playing the star or the supporting role, a chickpea is the perfect kitchen partner.