one-pot cooking

There are times when you can spend hours in the kitchen, planning a menu that requires multiple burners, the oven, the food processor, two chopping boards, several knives, the rice cooker, the saute pan and the Dutch oven.

And there are times when all you want to do is eat ASAP, goddammit.

Lately, it seems like we've been experiencing more of the latter, especially on weeknights. Let's face it: Though lovely, homemade pesto sauce and a roasted beet salad aren't exactly the best projects to embark on after a long day at work. (Unless a 10 p.m. dinner and staying up afterwards until midnight to do the dishes and wrap up leftovers is OK.)

So instead of ordering pizza or Chinese (which we lived on before the wedding -- so embarrassing -- everyone at the restaurant knows our order by heart and they recognize our voices when we call) or heading for the nearest drive-through, I've been looking for easy one-pot meals that won't take too much time to prepare or require a ton of cleanup. (Holy crap, I sound like my mom.)

Tonight's dinner: Pan-fried chickpea salad.

The original recipe is actually from 101 Cookbooks, and I tried to find a middle ground between the two versions, with some of my own modifications. This is what I came up with:

Pan-fried chickpea salad

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 can chickpeas (or 2 cups cooked, if you're Kate -- ha!)
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chopped red onion (less if you're not a big raw onion fan)
3 Tbsp non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup of loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste
About two handfuls of fresh spinach leaves

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Add chickpeas and cook until they begin to brown. Add leeks and continue to cook until chickpeas are golden and leeks begin to brown. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes.

In a small mixing bowl, combine yogurt, curry powder, cilantro, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well to create a dressing. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Add red onions to the chickpeas and mix well. Add the dressing, a little bit at a time, tasting as you go along. (It's better to do this slowly so you don't end up with too much dressing. You don't want yogurt soup with chickpeas.)

To serve, put a handful of spinach on a plate. Top this with the chickpea mixture. Garnish with a little cilantro. And -- voilà! -- a pretty healthy, super-fast dinner for two with minimal cleanup. (Be warned, though -- you will have major stinky breath afterwards. Don't make this on a first date.)

Other options: I can also see this salad as the perfect filling for some warm pita bread. And any leftover dressing can probably be mixed with canned tuna or chicken for a tuna or chicken salad sandwich later. (That's what I'm planning to do with my leftover dressing later this week -- maybe play around with adding capers and possibly sliced green apple or maybe even celery. The possibilities are endless.)