Recipe Sweet Roasted Courgettes with Crispy Chickpeas

Every so often someone introduces a new cookery book to us and very soon it becomes our new favourite. The latest is by Anna Jones and it is called a modern way to cook. It has loads of vegetarian and vegan recipes that are delicious and easy to cook. This is now a regular on our menu rota!

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes

You will need
4 medium courgettes
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 red onion
½ a bunch of fresh thyme
1 x 230g jar of roasted red peppers
550g cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, or 250g home-cooked chickpeas
1 unwaxed lemon

Method
Preheat your grill to high and get all your ingredients and equipment together. For this recipe it really speeds things up to have a food processor with a grating attachment. If not, a box grater will do.
Grate the courgettes then scatter evenly on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little oil and place under the grill to cook and char for about 20 minutes, turning every couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, put a frying pan on a medium heat. Thinly slice the red onion and add it to the pan with a splash of olive oil and the thyme leaves. Cook for 5 minutes, until soft and sweet.
Finely chop the red peppers and tomatoes, and finely slice the garlic.
Once the onions are browned, add them to the tray of courgettes with the peppers, tomatoes and garlic, and continue to cook and brown, turning every 5 minutes, for a further 10-15 minutes.
Put the frying pan back on a high heat and add a little more olive oil.
Add the chickpeas, a good pinch of salt and pepper and the zest of the lemon and cook until the chickpeas are crisped around the edges. This will take about 10 minutes, and you'll need to keep tossing the chickpeas in the pan.
Once the courgette mixture is softened and sweet, and charred in places, scatter over the chickpeas. Serve with some lemon-dressed green leaves.