Cook it yourself: Crispy Broccoli Rabe, Chickpeas and Ricotta

Somehow the whole Julie and Julia craze killed the cookbook for me. It used to be that you would browse a book, choose a meal or two to bolster your cooking repertoire, and as a matter of fact, you would be satisfied that you had gotten your money’s worth. Your book could now retire to a life of bookshelf chic.

Then aspiring bloggers wanting to make names for themselves rewrote the cookbook rule: Thou shalt cook to the book from cover to cover. Anything less is failure.

And so I’m afflicted with procrastination paralysis, for fear of failing to finish a book (Momofuku? Still mum. Ad hoc at home? Permanently at rest.)

So my cookbook of choice is the magazine. Always manageable, always efficient, magazine recipes (like reading articles, instead of novels) are realistic gratification - doable cuisine.

The October issue of Whole Living magazine serves as a first attempt to cook cover to cover. Through the meals that interest me, anyway.

Here is one of those recipes.

Crispy broccoli rabe, chickpeas, and fresh ricotta

What you’ll need (as published in WL):

1 bunch of broccoli rabe, rinsed and trimmed
1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained
2 garlic cloves, sliced (I went with one)
3 tbsp of evoo, plus more for drizzling
1 cup of ricotta
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
coarse salt
crushed pepper flakes



1 Heat broiler and toss broccoli, garbanzos, and garlic with oil on a baking sheet. Season with salt.
2 Broil for two minutes, then flip broccoli to broil until leaves are crisp and stems tender (another 2-3 minutes). Be sure to space broccoli out so that it crisps more than it steams (and wilts).



3 Serve topped with ricotta and red pepper flakes.
4 Add lemon and drizzle with olive oil.



This dish proves quick, healthy, and worthwhile. The dollop of ricotta really tempers the broccoli and melds well with the nutty garbanzo flavor.
Apparently, this is a flavor profile Whole Living has been playing with for some time. Here, they create a similar dish in pizza form.