Chickpea thesis presentation snacks

The thesis presentations for my class are Monday and Tuesday of this week (technically today and tomorrow since I make these posts so late). I'm not going until Tuesday, and my presentation's ready to go, so I thought I clear my head with a three (non-related) course cook-off! First course was Hoisin Salmon, which I've actually made before, but I discovered the next day that it made a fantastic Salmon sandwich. Second course was the Cheddar Chive Beer Bread that I made back at St. Patrick's Day, and the third course is another new recipe from the Kitchn blog, Roasted Curried Chickpeas with Rosemary and Thyme. If I'm lucky, there will be some left for tomorrow, they're pretty damn tasty!

Roasted Curried Chickpeas with Rosemary and Thyme
Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Ingredients

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed, drained and dried well
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly-grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Pour well-dried chickpeas onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and use a spatula to loosen up any chickpeas that are sticking to the bottom of the pan. Roast for another 10 minutes, or until chickpeas begin to crisp up. To test for readiness: don't rely on a change of color. When the chickpeas turn brown they've become burned. Instead, check with the press of a finger: you want them to be slightly crisp on the outside but still soft on the inside.

While the chickpeas are roasting, combine the olive oil, paprika, cumin, curry powder, salt, lemon zest, rosemary and thyme in a medium mixing bowl. Transfer the roasted chickpeas to the bowl and carefully toss them in the mixture until well coated. Return to the baking sheet and roast another 4-5 minutes. Once out of the oven, allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes; serve warm. 

The author (whom I'd love to credit properly but doesn't give there name), gives some extra tips for this recipe, especially drying the chickpeas before roasting them.

"There are many, many ways to do roasted chickpeas at home. You can start with dried beans and soak them overnight or use canned beans, which I did here. For canned beans, you just want to make sure you rinse them really well and, even more importantly, dry them really well. If they're not completely dry, they won't crisp up as nicely in the oven. I used a salad spinner to spin out all the moisture in my chickpeas before beginning."
They also recommend not screwing around with the salt and oil measurements for this recipe. You can fiddle with the spices as much as you like to get the flavours you want, but the salt and the oil do give the chickpeas a great flavour.