Friday, September 10, 2010

fried chickpeas with sage


So I'm writing a book.
I haven't mentioned it, because honestly, I wanted to just hand it to you, to have a big reveal, and to say, "here!"
But right now I'm really in it, and I'm having a pretty great time (with occasional tears and panic, of course). I just can't not tell you about it.
It won't be in your bookstore for a long time. But if all goes well, it will be there not this Spring, but the next one.
I know! It's a while. But I have to write it, you know? And there will be pictures, and we have to take them! (Wait till you see what this photographer can do- really.) And then Clarkson Potter has to make the thing, and that takes time too.
But trust me, we'll do our best to make it worth your wait.
I'm telling you now, because I've been getting a few questions as to why I haven't been writing about those homemade staples that I was so obsessed with for a while. Where is the cheese? The crackers? Oh, you'll get all that soon enough. I'm getting all those recipes together so that there will be a whole books worth full of cheese and crackers and yogurt, and all of that good stuff that you don't want to buy anymore. (And my editor is being very patient will all my constant additions, so let me know if there is anything you want me to figure out how to make. I'm nothing if not adventurous.)

There, I've said it. I've now introduced you to "Untitled Cookbook", and I feel so much better. I told you I was going to be a writer, and now I feel so honored to have the chance to give it my best. (It works! Quit your job to do something you love!) And while I don't have a book for you yet, I do have a lovely little bowl of chickpeas to tide you over.

I have recently become a little enamored with fried chickpeas. I always cooked them in wet and stewy ways, and then I put a little oil in the skillet and fried them up. Endless thanks to my grandfather's lovely and talented companion Anahi, who stood next to me in the kitchen, and said in her perfect Argentinian accent, "These need sage, don't you think?" Brilliant, totally brilliant.

Fried Chickpeas with Sage

4 cups cooked chick peas
10 fresh sage leave
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the chickpeas, and fry over medium heat until they start to get brown and crispy, about ten minutes. Add the sage in the last minute of cooking, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

9 comments:

  1. I am going to make this for dinner tonight! We have an over-abundance of pineapple sage in our deck garden -- what a perfect use for it. (:

    And I can't WAIT to see your book in a spring and a half. I know it will be beautiful and delicious.

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  2. OH MY GOD. I am so proud of you! So many congratulations. I am literally beaming with warm feelings for you right now, and I want so much to buy the book on my way home this afternoon. To know it's over a year away is already stirring my most impatient impatience. Just fantastic!

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  3. How wonderful! Good for you! Looking forward to a new lovely cookbook to add to my collection...

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  4. You are an inspiration lovely Alana!

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  5. so glad you asked what we'd like to see ... i'm going to just assume that joey's pickles will be in there, as well as your ketchup ... and what I'd really love--had been meaning to just outright ask you to consider, even did a sitewide search to make sure i hadn't missed it--is peanut butter. even w/o using PB for school or when we have our friend T. over, we use a LOT. i'm looking online for ideas, but figured maybe you'd have some ...

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  6. Marc! I kid you not.. I added pb to the table of contents this morning! So it's in there....

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  7. another lovely thing to do with sage in the summer (or anytime really) is fry it up crisp in some butter and then mix it into spaghetti squash with a little salt. Alana, I love your recipes and writing, can't wait for the book :)

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  8. wahoo!!! pb from ac!!! just saw this as i was out of town for a bit, saw joey this morning and was like, how's the book coming ... oh, hint, what about pb? NICE!!! had a GREAT time with you girls. kept saying "wow, they listen to me!" to my own kids. lol.

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  9. I just found your blog. Love it! Will be back! I am writing a book too, about the food writer M.F.K. Fisher. I just finished my manuscript and it comes out in the Spring, so I'll have fun lurking (and cooking) as you go through your writerly stages. Congrats!

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