Lately, life’s been busy. So I’ve been reaching into my stack of homemade meals in the freezer or into the pantry for ingredients for a quick pasta. We all have those days, weeks, even months, when you don’t have the time for a big grocery store trip, or you want to pinch a few extra pennies at the end of the month.
One of my favorite things to have my grandma cook is arroz cubano. When she and my grandpa come to visit from Brazil the menu usually looks something like this:
Tortilla de Patata
Paella
Pollo Tia Ely
Arroz Cubano
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
One of these things does not fit. But that’s a long story.
Arroz cubano is pretty fancy. It’s white rice shaped into a mound using a mug, then topped with tomato sauce and a perfectly fried egg. Definitely a classic stretching-the-grocery-budget meal, and definitely a kid-pleaser. Anything is immediately more exciting when it looks like a volcano and can be smashed. That’s a fact of life.
Luckily, these days I’m about 1% more sophisticated than my rice-volcano-smashing 8-year-old self, and so I came up with this warm farro bowl that has all the nostalgic goodness of arroz cubano. This is the perfect starter meal if you’ve never cooked farro before—it’s quick cooking, simple, and pretty darn foolproof. The key is to keep tasting your farro and adding more liquid if it needs it—it’ll be done when it’s firm but not crunchy.
These chickpeas are beyond addictive. Jarrett and I first had them at AS220 in Providence, a nonprofit restaurant/bar/music venue/art galley/hipster kind of place. One of the book designers at work recommended it after I asked her for a place with cheap, but high quality and innovative, food and drinks and a fun vibe (i.e. The Perfect Restaurant).
Jarrett and I walked in and immediately Did. Not. Fit. In. It was like a bad sitcom where there’s a loud record scratch, everyone stops talking, and turns to look at the intruders. Jarrett was in a dorky plaid flannel shirt and his trademark Winchester hat, and I was wearing a dress, heels, and pearls. We were the only un-inked, un-pierced, un-down-with-that squares on the premises.
We kind of scuttled over to a table and tried to look like we were being ironically nerdy as some sort of social statement. I try this move a lot. It never works.
So we decided to fix it by ordering EVERYTHING.
We ordered an outstanding pulled pork pasta, a butternut squash soup, an intensely cheesy and massive bowl of mac and cheese, a side dish of roasted Brussels sprouts, and these chickpeas.
You know these chickpeas are what’s up when I say they were better than mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was darn good, but I kept going back to these chickpeas and having my mind blown with each bite. They are ultra crispy, have amazing garlic flavor, and just take on such a rich, hearty crunch that you won’t even recognize them as chickpeas.
