Roasted chickpeas, where have you been all my life?

No, really. Where? I'm quite the southerner, so I've never really been exposed to chickpeas apart from hummus and that one time when my friend Trish's now-husband added them into a chili. Now, I've never -not- liked chickpeas, so I don't know why I didn't do anything with them before now, except that I just didn't.

This, my friends, is going to change. Roasted chickpeas are about to become a part of my diet.

And it was SUPER easy. I started with two cans of chickpeas, which I rinsed, drained, and rubbed with a paper towel. Rubbing between paper towels got the little husks off, which is very important. If you don't pull them off, you end up with chewy outsides to your chickpeas, which isn't good at all.

I used up what was left of a bottle of cajun shake seasoning, then mixed up some cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika with a little bit of olive oil, and tossed them all together, then into the oven they went! I cooked them for 30 minutes at 425 in a convection oven, but I think another 10-15 minutes would've made them even more crunchy and lovely.

So, so, very good.

People on the internet weren't lying, either - these things are REALLY filling. I was able to make it through a large handful before deciding that I couldn't eat any more. I'm planning to pick up more chickpeas tomorrow and roast a large bag with garlic and parmesan, because this batch is bound to disappear quickly.

Total prep/cook time: 50 minutes (10 mins prep, 40 mins roasting)

Family happiness rating: 8/10, but with a little more practice they could reach 10/10.

See the full album of the process here.