Chickpeas & bread in fresh tomato sauce

Simple and tasty summer dish that's ready in less than half an hour.

Jul 15, 2024

∙ Paid

I wasn’t quite sure what to call this dish. While technically a stew, that doesn’t feel like the right denomination. It’s fresh, only touching the heat for long enough to come together, but not enough to go soft and hearty. Somewhere halfway between a salad and a stew, in other words. Is there a word for that?

The recipe came about a few summers ago. I was having a sourdough crouton moment and was always looking to try new ways to use this incredible ingredient, which is radically different from your standard bland and tiny salad croutons.

Here’s how to make them:

A few slices of best quality sourdough bread to start. This is your main ingredient, so the taste of your croutons will be limited by the quality of your bread. Tear the slice by hand into relatively large chunks. Mix with a little olive oil (not enough to drench, but enough to flavour). Toast in a hot dry pan, shaking only occasionally.

Because of the only partial drenching in oil, you’ll end up with some bites that are more like toast, while others are more like olive oily croutons. Some bits are smokey from being slightly burned at the edges, but most remain soft in the middle.

Just perfect, if you ask me!

The croutons add wonderful flavour to this otherwise simple and summery dish. Co-stars: The in-season tomato as well as chickpeas and red peppers.

Just the thing to have for lunch this summer.

Hope you’ll enjoy it!