Chorizo chickpea tomato and spinach sheet pan

I’ve set an arbitrary and yet motivating goal to henceforth always have a nice green veg finish off my sheet pans. I loved the beans I used in the last one (and so did Sarah). And the chicken, potato and arugula one was a big hit (even Denis loved it). Fresh greens taste great and look great. Tonight I riffed off this meal, and the results were awesome. PK gave me high praise (shockingly) and Helen gave me a sold B (predictably).

Tonight’s cookin’ song:

Tonight’s takes:

Husband: “It could have been cooked a bit longer maybe, to have a bit more char, more blistering on the tomatoes and the sausages. The flavours work good together though. This is kind of just what I wanted tonight even though I didn’t know it was. Make it again. Sometimes you overcook the chickpeas. Tonight you didn’t.”

Helen (8 years old): “I really like it. Personally, I would have added more lemon to the spinach. Agree with Baba, the flavours go well together. I like the chickpeas and the tomatoes. It’s a good way to use up old stuff you have. Also an easy meal. Good job. I rate it 7/10. Also, you know I’m a garlic lover. There could have been more garlic in the yogurt sauce.”

Hector (5 years old): “5 out of 6. 2 out of 3. This is not as good as yesterday. Yesterday was better. I don’t like that the tomatoes are floppy. The chickpeas could use more flavour. They’re kind of just like a potato. And I agree with Helen, more lemon on the spinach. The rest is good. Hands up if you loved the tomatoes Mama made! I LOVE THEM!”

What I used:

• 4 chorizo sausages

• 2 cans chickpeas (398ml each)

• 1 box grape tomatoes (~250g)

• 1 bag spinach (283g)

• heaping tsp cumin

• heaping tsp oregano

• shallow tsp of paprika

• ~1 cup yogurt

• 1/2 lemon

• 1 garlic clove

• salt

• olive oil

What I did:

Turned oven to 425°F. Prepped the chickpeas and tomatoes. Drained the chickpeas before adding them to the tomatoes.

Added spices and two good pinches of salt. Mixed everything together.

Topped with oil.

Spread onto the sheet pan.

Nestled the sausages on the pan. Sausages were frozen solid when I added them.

Popped it in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes. While it was cooking, prepped a quick yogurt sauce to serve on the side.

Put about a cup of yogurt in a bowl.

Added juice of half a lemon, grated in one garlic clove, and added a pinch of salt.

Mixed and done.

When there were two minutes left on the timer, pulled the sheet pan out. Checked (with a meat thermometer) to make sure the sausages were done, then added the spinach on top of everything.

Added a bit more oil and salt for good measure. Put sheet pan back in the oven

When the timer went off, checked the spinach. Decided it needed two more minutes.

Done!

Served with a dollop of yogurt sauce.

Next time:

It was really tasty. The spinach delivered! Greens on sheet pans affirmed! I oversalted it a bit (it was restaurant salty tonight). Next time I wouldn’t add more salt to the greens, the salt on the sheet pan would be enough. If I did want a bit of char, I would cook it on two sheet pans and wouldn’t add the spinach on top of everything - that effectively steamed it for the last 4 minutes of cooking. I’d instead nestle the spinach amongst the sheet pan, not layer on top. The yogurt sauce could have used a bit more garlic, but if you’re not a garlic lover like Helen, one clove would likely suffice.

Even though Helen was not around for the prep or cooking and would have no way of knowing what’s actually easy to prepare vs hard, she was right. This would be a good way to use up some greens that are on their last legs, and it was damn easy.

I hope you love it as much as we did.

😋😋😋

-Ellisa