Moroccan Garbanzo Bean and Feta Pitas

I have one complaint about this dish - the chickpea salad is all one texture, a little mushy.  I wish there had been something crunchy to liven it all up.  One of the reviews suggested roasting the chickpeas for some crunch.  But we didn't want to take the extra time.  I wish we had.  If it hadn't required another trip to the grocery store (our 5th trip in 3 days), I would have picked up some kalamata olives to throw in for some salty kick.  I thought about adding some red bell pepper for crunch and a little sweetness, but I decided against it because the red bell peppers at the store didn't look that good.  I also thought about just serving the filling as a salad over a bed of romaine lettuce and serving it with pita chips for crunch, but Alex wanted pita sandwiches so we went with pita sandwiches.  I know I have already said it, but I really missed the crunch.  If I were to make this again (and I'm not sure that I would because nothing about the recipe really stood out for me), I would roast the chickpeas so they are nice and crunchy.  And I might still serve it with pita chips.  And I might kick up the flavor a little bit (or serve with hot sauce).  The flavor wasn't bad, but it didn't jump out at me either.  The Greek yogurt added a really nice flavor that I was initially skeptical of, but I ended up wanting more of it.  The yogurt was probably my favorite component.  Even though we had wonderful fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the farmers' market, it was really the yogurt that shined.

Recipe after the jump!

Moroccan Garbanzo Bean and Feta Pitas

Adapted from Bon Appetit

August 2003

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp evoo
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
1 1/2 cups cucumbers, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

s&p
4 whole wheat pita bread rounds, halved crosswise

Greek yogurt

Whisk together olive oil, white wine vinegar, and spices in a mixing bowl. Add drained chickpeas. Let stand 20 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Add tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, red onion, and parsley to chickpeas.  Season chickpea-mixture to taste with s&p.  Add a dollop into the bottom of each pita and fill pita halves with chickpea mixture.  Top with an additional dollop of yogurt.