Pasta with Chickpea and Mushroom in White Wine

I'm moving to a new apartment soon. I am pretty excited to get away from some bad neighbors, but also really sad about leaving the good ones. This week I spent some time with two of my favorite neighbors and at 2am decided that since we were all hungry, I would cook for us. This dish came out really good, even while sipping vodka/cranberry drinks.

- 3/4 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I like Goya)
- One tomato, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp of red pepper flakes
- 4 button mushrooms, sliced
- 3 large pads of earth balance butter
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Handful of chopped fresh parsley
-3/4 cup of white wine (I used Yellow Tail pinot grigio)
- Freshly grated parmesan (nice handful)
- Juice of one lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3/4 of a box or fusilli pasta, or whatever kind you like

Have a large pot of water boiling and cook the pasta while making the sauce. Start with a large saucepan or frying pan, coated with some extra virgin olive oil. Add crushed garlic and red pepper flakes and cook at a very low level until garlic is cooked but not burned. Next add the sliced mushrooms and one pad of butter. Add some salt and pepper, but do not keeping stirring the mushrooms. Let them lightly brown. Next add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the white wine, chickpeas, lemon juice, 2 pads of butter and cook until alcohol is evaporated.  Next, add the drained pasta to the pan, along with the parsley and some more salt and pepper to taste.  Cook in the sauce for about 1 or two minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cheese and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Tabbouleh

I mentioned on this blog once before about how delicious tabbouleh is.  It is a really great Middle Easterm salad, that is super easy to make and so good for you.  Bulghur is a good source of protein, iron, and fiber, and doesn't need to be cooked.  It is made similar to couscous. Lemon and parsley are excellent cleansing foods.  I eat it with chickpeas, hummus and pita, and sometimes feta cheese.

Here is my recipe:
1 bunch of parsley, cleaned and dry, chopped
1/4 cup of chopped mint
1/2 large tomato, chopped with the seeds out
1 persian cucumber chopped with skin and seeds
1/4 of a red onion, chopped small, or two chopped scallions
1 lemon
1/2 cup of bulghur
1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil, depending on your liking
1/2 tsp of sumac
salt and pepper to taste

Place the bulghur in a bowl and squeeze the juice of half of a lemon.  Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water on top nd let it sit until it is all absorbed.  While the bulghur is being absorbed by the water and lemon, in another bowl combine all vegetables and herbs.  When the bulghur is absorbed, add everything together, including the olive oil, sumac, the juice of the other half of the lemon, and salt and pepper. You can add more lemon if you like.

A few notes...if you don't have sumac, it's ok to omit it.  It adds a bit of lemony taste.  If you don't have persian cucumbers, just take the skin off and the seeds out before chopping.  Scallions are good to use instead of onion if you just want a mild onion taste. This is best after it has been sitting in the refrigerator for a few hours and has had time to aborb the flavors.