Grilled Greens and Garlic Chickpeas with Pasta

In my quest to become a more healthful, conscientious eater, I wanted to challenge myself with my latest dish. I love my bacon, carbs and all sorts of sinful treats but in moderation. So what's a gal to do for the other dozen meals when she isn't stuffing her face with sugar? Well, here you have it.

I took BA up on the challenge to grill my greens and it was the best idea I had since getting back from Peru. I heated up some olive oil with garlic and red pepper and used to marinate the head of hardy Rainbow Chard I had. I also doused a can of chickpeas in an ungodly amount of garlic powder to create these creamy nuggets of garlicky goodness. I used these two items on top of brown rice pasta and guess what? It was DELICIOUS. The only thing I ran into was heating up left overs. Brown rice pasta does not make for good leftovers. A fresh drizzle of olive oil helps a bit before rehearing but it just ain't the same. 

Here I give you this pasta dish that is sure to make your summer both tasty and healthful. Until the next dish, ciao!

You will need:

1 16oz bag of brown rice pasta (or regular pasta if you're treating yourself)

1 15oz can of rinsed chickpeas

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/4 cup olive oil

6-8 cloves of garlic depending on size, sliced thin

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, more if you like it spicy

1 bunch of chard (any variety, kale or escarole would work too)

In a large pot over medium high heat, heat the pasta water.

Rinse and coarsely chop the greens into one by two inch pieces and place in a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil, garlic and red pepper together (*BA recipe instructions) until warm, then let cool for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once cool enough, add the oil mixture to the greens and coat well. 

If you are using an outdoor grill you need a tray, otherwise you can use a grill pan on your stove (if you don't have one, get one, I seriously love mine). Heat the grill pan on high and add a few greens at a time. Each side will need about 3-4 minutes, you will see the edges curl, blacken and blister. Remove them and let them cool in a separate bowl. Repeat this until all the greens are grilled.

 Place the chickepeas in the same pan you in which you heated the olive oil. Add the garlic powder and make sure beans are coated. Heat the chickpeas over medium heat until they have developed a crust (you will lose a bunch of powder to the pan) and begin to brown, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and add to cooled greens. 

Add the pasta to the boiling water and follow the instructions. Drain pasta and add to the greens and chickpeas. For good measure, add another glug of olive oil to coat the pasta mixture. Serve immediately.