Quick Cook: Curried Chickpea and Cauliflower Pita with Preserved Lemon

Canned chickpeas take on an addictive texture that’s somewhere between chewy and crispy when roasted with curry-dusted cauliflower. Stacked with some cool cucumber, fresh mint, shredded purple cabbage and a drizzle of cucumber dressing, this pita pocket combo pops, especially with a few slivers of preserved lemon.

For those of you who want this winning flavor combo but can’t bring yourselves to lean into the indelicate, sauce-dripping-down-your-wrists experience of eating an overflowing pita pocket, follow this recipe but pile it on top of a bed of salad greens with some pita chip croutons.

If you have a gas stove, I recommend warming the pita bread on an open flame for those irresistible char marks. As for the preserved lemon, it can be purchased at gourmet or Middle Eastern groceries or very easily made using the method below. I keep a jar in my fridge at all times, and whenever I remove a lemon to use it, I simply add a new lemon to the jar to keep my supply going.

Curried Chickpea and Cauliflower Pita with Preserved Lemon

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 large head cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

3 tablespoons olive oil for roasting

1 teaspoon curry powder

1½ teaspoons salt, divided

½ large cucumber, peeled

1 cup Greek yogurt

Juice from ½ lemon

½ cup crumbled feta

3 tablespoons olive oil for the dressing

4 pita breads, warmed

¼ purple cabbage, shredded

¼ of a preserved lemon, pulp discarded and peel thinly sliced

16 mint leaves

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 475 degrees. Toss together the cauliflower, chickpeas, olive oil, curry powder and 1 teaspoon of the salt and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, using a spatula to turn over cauliflower halfway through, until golden brown and tender.

Meanwhile, slice the cucumber thinly and set aside 12 slices for assembling the pita pockets later. Put the remaining cucumber slices in a food processor or blender and add the yogurt, lemon juice, feta, olive oil and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth and creamy.