Cool Beans

It's too hot to cook. Ever since I heated up my apartment to 87 degrees (87 degrees!) by making a pot of ratatouille, I've been making sandwiches, nuking leftovers, and occasionally boiling a little pot of pasta or sticking something in the toaster oven. (Or staying at my parents' house, where 90% of the cooking this time of year is done by my father on the grill.) So when I say to make this soup on the stove, ignore me. Seriously, don't do it. When I actually cooked this, a month or two ago, the temperature was normal and I could boil a pot of chickpeas without also boiling myself. From, now til September I'm recommending the crockpot method, which I haven't actually tested out but hey, what could go wrong? At the very least it's far less likely to turn your kitchen into a sauna. Which frankly right now is my highest priority, so.

This is a lovely soup, which I found on Pinterest (original here). It's basically liquid hummus, for better or worse. Given my feelings about hummus, I'm going with better. That said, it's one of those flavors that I love for the first half of a bowl and then kind of feel like enough's enough, so I'd suggest having a small bowl as an appetizer or alongside a salad and/or sandwich instead of making it your whole meal. But don't listen to me. (Do you ever?) Alternatively, it would make a good sauce for something like falafel, or maybe a dressing for a Middle Eastern-ish salad. In which case you'll want to make a whole lot less, unless you eat a *lot* of falafel.

Chickpea soup with olive oil, sumac, and lemon juice.

Chickpea Soup
2 cups dried chickpeas, or 1 big can canned chickpeas (dried tastes better but requires advance planning, never my strength when it comes to dinner)
4 cups broth of some sort (chicken/veggie)
water
1 big onion, diced
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. cumin
salt & pepper
olive oil
Garnishes: sumac, paprika, lemon juice, feta, parsley, cilantro and/or whatever else looks good, to taste

1) If you're using dried beans, soak them overnight first. If not, open and drain the can of beans.

2) Saute onion until it's translucent and beginning to brown, then add the garlic, cumin and bay leaf, and saute a minute more until everything's fragrant. (Note: On a hot day, skip this step. You miss out on all the wonderfullness that comes with a good Maillard reaction, but also a lot of sweat.)

3) Dump everything but the garnishes in a pot or crockpot. Cook until done. Crockpot: low heat. Stovetop: gentle simmer. Here's a handy table to make sense of cooking time, given all the variables.

	Crockpot (low setting)	Stovetop (gentle simmer)
canned beans	45 min?	30 min?
presoaked dry beans	7-8 hours	1-3 hours
unsoaked dry beans	are you nuts?	derrr… 4 hours?

Figure 1: Approximate cooking times

Do keep in mind though that those are very approximate, and a lot will depend on the freshness of your beans, the alignment of the planets, the will of the gods, and so forth. Keep checking, stirring, and adding water as needed. (Crockpot dry beans can be left to cook while you go off and have a productive/beach-filled day, just start checking near the end of the process.)

4) When the chickpeas are nice and soft, pull out the bay leaves and blend the whole mess til smooth. (Immersion blenders are good for this, if using a blender blender make sure to tilt up the little clear plastic bit in the middle so steam can escape, don't overfill, and keep a hand on the top to thwart explosions.)

5) Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with whatever of the above garnishes sound good to you, alongside something Mediterranean: a cucumber-tomato salad, tabbouleh, a sandwich (grilled cheese? with feta and arugula?), or at least a nice chunk of bread to sop it up with.