Eastern Mediterranean Carrot Chickpea Tray Bake
To change things up, I occasionally try to make a more standard or traditional meal. You know, the kind with three components served all together but separate on a plate (e.g. salmon, rice, vegetables). But cooking three separate components and using three different pans usually feels tedious and depleting to plan, prep, plate, and put away as leftovers. Plus these meals never seem to last quite as long (I'm a cook-once-eat-at-least-twice type of person) and they somehow turn out underwhelming without a fourth component sauce. So I keep returning to what my partner and I consider to be more comforting one-pot or one-pan meals like soups, dals, skillet meals and tray bakes. This format feels more congruent and cohesive logistically speaking and eating it is much more satisfying.
The carrot chickpea tray bake I’m sharing below is one such one-pan meal. Large, meaty olives, sumac, and roasted lemon and garlic mingle with caramelized carrots and chickpeas. If you've never tried halving a whole garlic bulb and roasting it, I hope you give it a go. The cloves get soft, sweet and caramelized and add that little something extra. Once plated, finish individual bowls with the zingy yogurt sauce for a fun, simple and streamlined meal.
Eastern Mediterranean Carrot Chickpea Tray Bake
Serves 4
Notes: Recipe calls for sumac, a tart red berry that is dried and ground. If you don't have sumac, za'atar would work great as it's a blend of dried thyme, sumac and sesame seeds. If you don't have either spice, add dried thyme and/or the zest of 1 lemon instead when sumac is called for in instructions.
8 medium carrots, sliced on a diagonal 1/2 inch thick
1 (15-oz) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (~ 1 1/2 cups cooked)
2 tsp. ground sumac
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 lemons, washed and quartered
1 whole, large head of garlic, halved around the middle
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil
10 large green olives, with pits if you can find them (I like Castelvetrano)
1/2 small-medium red onion, thinly sliced
Handful of fresh cilantro or dill (or a combination), roughly chopped
Creamy Garlic-Lemon Sauce (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 400 F / 200 C.
Place carrots, chickpeas, sumac, salt and pepper on a large baking sheet and toss with olive oil. Evenly distribute across the tray and nestle lemon quarters in, making sure they're cut side down. Drizzle garlic halves with a little oil and place on tray also cut side down.
Cook for 15 minutes, add olives and return to oven. Cook another 10 minutes, or until carrots are a little caramelized and cooked but still with a bite.
Remove from oven and scatter around sliced red onion and herbs. Once cool enough to handle squeeze each of the garlic bulb halves. The cloves should slip out easily. Plate tray bake, making sure each bowl has a few cloves of garlic, lemon quarters and olives. Serve drizzled with creamy garlic-lemon sauce.
Creamy Garlic-Lemon Sauce
1 cup (120 ml) full-fat yogurt (or crème fraiche or labneh)
1 medium garlic clove, grated directly into bowl using a microplane
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. sumac (optional)
Salt, to taste
Stir everything together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust for salt and acidity.