There are things that just can’t be forgotten, such as how much I disliked legumes when I was little, especially chickpeas, which were almost an ordeal for me at that time. And it’s impressive how the taste of someone can change, or how life can teach you to improve your palate. Currently at home we eat legumes at least twice a week , prepared as stew, salads, mashed, etc. On my last trip to Chile I was very clear that there was a book I had to buy, “Made in Chile” by Juan Pablo Mellado. During the trip I glanced through the pages several times, seeing the details and how he got into each recipe. Without a doubt, I knew I just had to prepare those chickpeas with scallops. You can’t even imagine the exquisite mix of flavors from such a simple dish. This well-known Chilean chef, who has excelled in publicizing our Chilean cuisine, now delights us with a book worth having, because it makes a compilation of our Chilean gastronomy from our homes, and for those of us who live far from Chile this is a treasure. Besides, it inspires me by the fact that in this blog I always try in one way or another to also make the Chilean cuisine known abroad. I couldn’t visit his “Fuente de Soda Las Cabras” this time, but without a doubt I will do next time.
Chickpeas with scallops
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 jars or cans of cooked chickpeas
- 40 clean scallops
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/2 tomato, peeled and grated
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1 tablespoon of paprika
- Arugula leaves
- Olive oil, sea salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a frying pan, make a stir-fry base with onions and a dash of olive oil. After 5 minutes, add the minced garlic and saute over medium heat to avoid burning.
- Add the paprika, stir and then add the wine and the grated tomato. Cook for about 10 minutes, to let the alcohol evaporate from the wine.
- Add the chickpeas to this stir-fry base, including all the juice from their container, and cook for a few minutes so that some of the juice evaporates. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Before serving, heat very well a pan with a little oil. When some smoke begins to come out, add the scallops and let them brown well on one side. This should take a little over a minute if the temperature is high enough.
- Turn the scallops and let them cook for one more minute. Add salt and pepper over the chickpeas stew, adding any leftover juice that can be recovered from the frying pan. At the end, decorate with arugula or parsley leaves, just like I did.
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