Grow chickpeas...

We've grown these 2 years in a row now, planting late in the year and harvesting now along with our garlic planted at the same time. Can't beat using them before they go yellow and/or eating them green or making wonderful humus with fresh garlic and the best olive oil going... We did cheat and bring the tahini over from the UK as we have not found it here. However we have now run out and are about to make our own as we have sourced  the sesame seeds and it sounds easy and cheap to make...    

stevegwmonkseaton wrote:We've grown these 2 years in a row now, planting late in the year and harvesting now along with our garlic planted at the same time. Can't beat using them before they go yellow and/or eating them green or making wonderful humus with fresh garlic and the best olive oil going... We did cheat and bring the tahini over from the UK as we have not found it here. However we have now run out and are about to make our own as we have sourced  the sesame seeds and it sounds easy and cheap to make...    

 You can get the Tahina paste from here in Italy. We make quite a lot of Hummus, as it is a great snack in the summer.
http://www.asiaminimart.it/shop/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=Tahina

Thanks Steve, may give it a go.....sounds daft, but where do you get the seed or do you just soak and plant dried chick peas ????  Probably not the later if oven dried....

We got the original ceci seeds at the local ferramenta's, they were coated with this horrible pink stuff, I assume to stop them being eaten... Anyway they almost self-seeded again this year and we planted some of the previous years dried produce in between. Will give them a lot more space this year as they were matted when we come to harvest them this week. We only had about a meter and a half square which was more than enough to harvest. Wonderful when almost full size and still green. The hummus does look nice when green....

Green humus sounds better than beige......thanks for that information.....will ask in consorzio / ferramenta.  I once made the mistake of buying a sweet potato in Sainsbury's to grow here.....nothing happened...then was told that as not organic it had probably been through a radiation process to keep it 'pristene' and give it a much longer life......bought some organic ones here, in health shop and they took off like triffids........A little off topic I know.....

Sweet potatoes next for us, thanks...

I have purchased tahini paste at Esselunga in the past. I regularly prepare hummus. 

 Although I have never eaten green chickpeas (sounds delicious), I prepare a great salad mixing boiled chickpeas, finely chopped onions and chives, diced cucumber (previously cured in some salt), tomatoes, garlic, plenty of chopped parsley, mint and coriander, ground pepper, olive oil and the juice of 3-4 lemons (depending on size). Keeps very well in the fridge and it is very refreshing.

Sounds good to me, just need some coriander.....have dill, would that be a substitute ?   Probably not.....

Chick peas are just the best thing ever.  A really easy quick accompaniment for meat is chick pea "mash":  saute' some garlic (and onion if you wish) chilli (fresh or flakes) and cumin.  Then add the chick peas (either already boiled or from a can) and cook over heat until they are nicely warmed up.  Then just press the chick peas with the back of a fork to smooch them up a bit, season, and voila'.  Takes about 5 mins to make and it's soooo good.

Angela Fuller wrote:Sounds good to me, just need some coriander.....have dill, would that be a substitute ?   Probably not.....

If you haven't got coriander, add a bit more parsley and mint. I would not use dill.

Angela Fuller wrote:Sounds good to me, just need some coriander.....have dill, would that be a substitute ?   Probably not.....

 ... but we found some sound advice elsewhere, not in summer... So we have grown coriander by planting in September or later and it has over wintered brilliantly and lasted until June. Love the sound of the chickpea mash...  

Thought so Gala.......this is my first year growing Dill, was given a packet of seeds so could not resist....now I don't know what to do with it as it has such a distinct flavour, can I freeze it ?
Carciofo, your chick pea 'mash' sounds like a goer, eating chicken tomorrow so will give it a go, thank you....

stevegwmonkseaton wrote:

Angela Fuller wrote:Sounds good to me, just need some coriander.....have dill, would that be a substitute ?   Probably not.....

 ... but we found some sound advice elsewhere, not in summer... So we have grown coriander by planting in September or later and it has over wintered brilliantly and lasted until June. Love the sound of the chickpea mash...  

 Do you grow the coriander directly in the ground or in pots? I used to take seeds from the Uk to Belgium when I lived there and grew it in the ground but it was very leggy - do you source the seeds in Italy? I too am excited about the chickpeas and will try to plant some this year - what is the ultimate recipe for hummus?

Thanks Steve,  I am going to try planting all sorts of 'tricky' herbs and chick peas in Sept and see how they do....My coriander never works when planted in the Spring, as FBower says, it just goes leggy...

Have both planted it straight in the ground and in pots, found it best straight in the ground. We found we needed to keep cutting it to stop it bolting (freeze if desired). The seeds we someone brought over from the UK, but we have so many no (from the produce) we can't keep up with them...

I've had such disappointing results trying to grow coriander that I've given up.  Perhaps I'll try sewing in September and see if things improve.

Angela Fuller wrote:Thought so Gala.......this is my first year growing Dill, was given a packet of seeds so could not resist....now I don't know what to do with it as it has such a distinct flavour, can I freeze it ?Carciofo, your chick pea 'mash' sounds like a goer, eating chicken tomorrow so will give it a go, thank you....

 Dill can be used in a variety of dishes, such as potato salad, egg salad, mixed with chopped cucumber and yoghurt, as a condiment for fish (particularly salmon and trout), potato soup, cold cucumber soup, in vinaigrettes (delicious over cold roast slices commonly known as leftovers...). It can be frozen, chopped and put into airtight containers and also mixed with water and frozen in icecube trays. It has great properties to aid digestion, as a natural antibiotic, antioxidant and many more...

Gala Placidia wrote:

Angela Fuller wrote:Sounds good to me, just need some coriander.....have dill, would that be a substitute ?   Probably not.....

If you haven't got coriander, add a bit more parsley and mint. I would not use dill.

We have found parsley (flat) is now a must have here as it's nothing like that in the UK and it takes over from coriander during summer. Same family as coriander (I think very different taste), but much easier to get here as seed or plant and grows like the weeds...

Italian parsley is flat and it does belong to the same "apiaceae" family as coriander, although they taste differently.

Use peanut butter instead of tahini paste, the hummus tastes just the same if not better and if you can't buy peanut butter, make your own! Just roast a tray of shelled nuts slowly until nutty brown whiz in the food processor and add a bit of oil to make consistency (and salt if you wish)... 

Will try making some peanut buttter, sounds like it could be a winner......and then try making some hummus with it....thanks for that Duchessa...

What is the best oil to use Duchessa ?

We use peanut oil but have used sunflower...

You could use some sesame oil. I think that it would enhance the flavour.

Gala Placidia wrote:You could use some sesame oil. I think that it would enhance the flavour.

Sesame would be the correct oil based on most recipes we have seen, but I've not found it here. However you can get sesame seeds and blended with a little olive oil added would I'm sure be better....