Warm Chickpeas and Spinach with Thyme, Sesame, and Fresh Cheese
Chickpeas crisped in garlicky olive oil with dried thyme and toasted sesame, wilted spinach folded through, and spoonfuls of cold fresh cheese set against the warm pan with lemon over everything.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Thyme and sesame belong together, and anybody who has eaten za'atar on a hot flatbread already knows it. This is that pairing built into a breakfast you eat with a fork, with chickpeas crisped hard in olive oil to carry the spice and a great heap of spinach cooked down to almost nothing beside them. It takes half an hour start to finish, most of which is standing over the skillet watching chickpeas turn gold and listening for the moment they start to rattle, and the only knife work in the whole recipe is slicing three cloves of garlic and four scallions.
The cold cheese is the whole idea. Warm, garlicky, herby chickpeas are good on their own, but set them next to something cold and creamy and each one makes the other taste more like itself. I spoon it on in three or four soft mounds rather than stirring it in, so some bites are hot and toasted and some are cool and mild, and the mounds go soft at the edges where they touch the pan-warm chickpeas. A hard squeeze of lemon at the table pulls the two halves of the plate together and keeps the olive oil from ever feeling heavy.
I reach for this on weekday mornings when I want something green and savory and have about twenty five minutes, and on slow weekends when it turns into brunch for four with lemon wedges and a pot of tea. Cooked chickpeas from a can are what make it possible on a Tuesday, and if you have a jar of the larger, softer kind in the refrigerator they will crisp even better than the small ones. Leftovers eat well cold, straight from the container, standing at the counter, and I have been known to make a second pan on the same day.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups cooked chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 12 packed cups spinach (about 12 oz), thick stems pulled off
- 2 1/4 cups lowfat cottage cheese, cold
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 4 scallions, sliced thin
- 2 tsp dried thyme, crumbled between your fingers
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus wedges to serve
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Instructions
- Dry the chickpeas properly: Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then roll them between two towels until the skins look matte rather than shiny. Any water left on them will steam in the pan and you will never get them to blister. This is the one step that decides how the dish comes out.
- Crisp them in olive oil: Warm two tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the chickpeas in a single layer with the salt, and leave them alone for three minutes. Toss, then cook another three to four minutes until they are golden, split in places, and rattling loudly against the pan.
- Toast the sesame and thyme: Turn the heat to medium, push the chickpeas to one side, and add the sesame seeds to the bare part of the pan. Stir them for forty five seconds, until they are the color of honey and start jumping. Add the sliced garlic and the crumbled thyme, stir everything together, and cook for one minute more, until the garlic is pale gold and the pan smells strongly of herbs.
- Wilt the spinach: Add the spinach in two large handfuls with the black pepper, turning it over with tongs as it collapses. It goes from a mountain to a dark tangle in about two minutes. Cook for one minute past that point so the water it releases cooks off, then take the pan off the heat and stir in the scallions and half the lemon juice.
- Build the plates: Spoon the warm chickpeas and spinach onto four plates. Add three or four soft mounds of cold cottage cheese to each, pour over the last tablespoon of olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice, and take it to the table while the pan is still ticking. Serve with lemon wedges.
Variations
- Chard or kale: Swap the spinach for chard or kale, both of which need four or five minutes rather than two, and add the stems with the garlic.
- Tahini drizzle: Thin two tablespoons of tahini with lemon and cold water and pour it over the finished plate for a richer, nuttier version.
- Blistered tomatoes: Add a cup of cherry tomatoes with the garlic and let them split and slump into the chickpeas.
- Chile and coriander: Add a pinch of cayenne and a teaspoon of cracked coriander seeds with the sesame for something warmer and more pungent.
- Herb heap: Finish with a handful of chopped parsley and mint over the top, which turns the plate greener and fresher.
Storage & Leftovers
The chickpeas and spinach keep four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Store the cheese in its own tub and spoon it on cold at the last moment, because stirred in and stored together the whole thing turns watery overnight.
Reheat in a dry skillet over medium-high for two or three minutes to bring back some of the crispness, or eat it cold, which is closer to how a plate like this gets eaten at room temperature all over the region.
I do not freeze this one. Spinach comes back limp and wet, and chickpeas that were crisped and then frozen turn mealy. It is a thirty minute recipe from a can and a bag, so it is easier to make it again than to store it that long.
Notes & Tips
- Roll the chickpeas dry: Two towels and thirty seconds. It is the difference between chickpeas that blister and chickpeas that sit in the pan and sulk.
- Crumble dried thyme in your fingers: The friction and the warmth of your hand wake up the oils in it. Thyme tipped straight from the jar tastes like dust by comparison.
- Give the sesame its own patch of pan: Seeds toast in under a minute and burn just after. Clearing a space means you can watch them change color instead of hunting for them among the chickpeas.
- Buy more spinach than looks sensible: Twelve cups collapses to about a cup and a half. Half a bag looks generous going in and disappears completely on the plate.
- Keep the cheese cold: Take it out of the refrigerator at the last second. The contrast between the cold spoonful and the hot pan is the point of the dish, and it fades within a few minutes on a warm plate.
- Save half the lemon for the table: Acid added in the pan softens as it heats. A fresh squeeze at the table is sharper and lifts the whole plate again.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Chickpeas, spinach, sesame, and fresh cheese cover a lot of ground between them. The chickpeas bring fiber and a firm bite, the spinach brings volume and color, the sesame brings fat and crunch, and the cheese carries most of the protein on the plate.
- Chickpeas hold their shape when they crisp because their skins are sturdy, and inside they stay starchy and soft. That combination of protein and slow fiber is why a modest cup of them makes a breakfast feel like a meal.
- Spinach cooks down so far that you end up eating far more of it than you would in a salad, and along with it comes folate, iron, and the vitamin K that dark leaves carry in quantity.
- Sesame seeds toasted for less than a minute go from bland to deeply nutty, and those tiny seeds bring calcium and a rich, sesame-oil fragrance that carries the thyme through the whole pan.
- Cottage cheese spooned on cold gives this plate its staying power, with protein and calcium in a form mild enough to let the garlic, thyme, and lemon stay in front.
- As you eat, chase a bite that has a crisp chickpea, a strand of spinach, and a cool spoonful of cheese all at once, and let the temperature difference be the thing that keeps you at the table a little longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
My chickpeas never crisped. What happened?
Almost always moisture, occasionally crowding. Dry them until they look dull rather than wet, give them a wide pan so they sit in one layer, and leave them undisturbed for the first three minutes so a crust can form before you start tossing.
Can I use frozen spinach?
You can, though the texture is softer. Thaw it and squeeze it hard in a towel until no more water comes out, then add it with the garlic rather than at the end. Use about ten ounces, and expect a greener, denser plate.
What if I do not have cottage cheese?
Thick Greek yogurt or labneh does the same job, spooned on cold in the same way. Fresh sheep cheese is the traditional partner if you can find one, and any of the three should be pasteurized.
Is dried thyme really better than fresh here?
For this dish, yes. Dried thyme has the dusty, resinous quality that belongs with sesame, while fresh thyme is greener and more lemony. If fresh is what you have, use a tablespoon of leaves and add them with the spinach.