Pinotxo's Chickpeas
This is Joan “Juanito” Bayén. He’s been wearing the same bowtie and vest and manning the bar that is the entirety of Bar Pinotxo for decades. If the world ever comes back and you can travel to Barcelona, you should eat his chickpeas. There’s no menu. He just asks “do you like chickpeas?” and you nod and you get a plate of delicious chickpeas.
Ingredients
3 lbs. cooked chickpeas
2 yellow onions, diced
1/2 lbs. sausage
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
extra virgin olive oil
pimentón or whatever paprika
palmful of chopped parsley
fancy salt flakes like Maldon
crushed red pepper
3 cans of chickpeas is about 3 lbs. dry chickpeas. Close enough.
1. Put a glug* of extra virgin olive oil in a large pan over a medium flame. Sprinkle a few dashes of pimentón and allow the spice to bloom for maybe 20 seconds.
Pimentón is a Spanish paprika made from smoked peppers so the flavor is deeper and smokier than standard paprika. For that true Basque flavor, buy pimentón and other Spanish goods at La Tienda.
2. If your sausage has a casing, discard that. In Spain, this dish would traditionally be made with morcilla (blood sausage), but we probably don’t have that so use any sausage available. Crumble your sausage into smaller bits and add to your pan.
3. After some fat has rendered from your sausage, add the onions, sugar, and vinegar. If you have red wine or sherry vinegar, use that. I’m Asian so I have a gigantic bottle of rice wine vinegar. Constantly stir with a wooden spoon and cook down your onions until they are soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Add the chickpeas, raisins, and pine nuts to the mix.
Pine nuts are mad expensive and maybe you don’t have them in your pantry. Feel free to just omit them, this dish will still taste good! But the raisins are essential. They provide a punch of sweetness that balances the whole dish.
Stir everything together until its well combined and warmed through. Adjust the seasoning as needed.
5. Serve with parsley, sprinkle of fancy salt, drizzle of olive oil, and few more dashes of paprika. If you want to add some heat, add a few pinches of crushed red pepper. If you have some crusty bread, eat your chickpeas with that!
Notes:
What is a glug of olive oil? Who knows?? I grew up watching Jamie Oliver put a glug of this and a glug of that. Who actually measures oil anyways? That’s foolish. You just have to feel it. Lol watch this man work:
If your glug of oil was too large and makes your dish oily, so sorry! Hope you have some of that aforementioned bread to soak it up lol.