What’s Cooking: Old Bay Roasted Chickpeas
Last week when Old Bay released its hot sauce, it sold out within an hour. I’m not a hot sauce girl, but I do like Old Bay seasoning. I was first introduced to this fabulous concoction when I dated this guy named Marcus in college. He is a Baltimore native who carried around an Old Bay container in his backpack all the time. He would put Old Bay on EVERYTHING. And when I mean everything, I don’t just mean seafood; he would also put it on oatmeal, scrambled eggs, popcorn, hot dogs, fries, pretzels, etc. I liked the taste of it, but never really appreciated Old Bay until I traveled to Baltimore years later and quickly found out that this seasoning was a big part of the food culture in Maryland. Everywhere I went, there was Old Bay, whether as a condiment on a restaurant table or in a movie theater.
Over the years, I grew to love Old Bay. So much so that I have developed a few recipes. One of my favorite recipes is Old Bay roasted chickpeas.
Recipe:
– one cup of chickpeas (preferably dry beans soaked overnight in water)
– 4 tablespoons of Old Bay
– 1 teaspoon of salt
– 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– 1 mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, and 1 large non-stick baking sheet
Preheat oven to 375º. Spread your drained chickpeas on the baking sheet and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Then take them out the oven and transfer the baked chickpeas into the mixing bowl and add the Old Bay, salt, and olive oil. Mix well and then transfer and spread chickpeas again onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle an extra dash of Old Bay on chickpeas. Bake for another 15 minutes. Take out the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Store in an air-tight container for later use.
By the way, I spoke to Marcus recently to see if he got the limited edition hot sauce. “Of course, I did!” he said.