As soon as I saw this post, I knew I had to make us some roasted garbanzo beans.

I have long been a devotee of the humble garbanzo bean. When I was growing up, all of my grandparents would try to visit us in Tennessee at the same time. My mom's mom and my dad's parents, traveling from Illinois and Pennsylvania respectively to spend some time. These visits were very steeped in ritual and tradition. At one point the grandmothers would go shopping, my grandpa driving them to the mall and returning home to wait for the call to fetch them home again. One night they would make Shake and Bake pork chops. My Grandma Mercedes (my mom's mom) would do some ironing for my mom. Every time we went out to dinner, they'd fight over who'd pay the bill. On their first night in town, we'd almost always go to Shoney's for dinner. (The branches of this tradition continue to exist: whenever my mom or dad come to see us, California Pizza Kitchen is always our first stop.) One year my dad and grandpa and I sat in the parking lot of Shoney's in my grandparent's huge old boat of a car and listened to the final outs of a Mets/Astros playoff game while my mom and the grandmothers went in and got us a table. It was 1986, and things didn't get much more exciting for me than listening to that game on the radio.

Best part of Shoney's was the salad bar. It likely still is. I haven't been in awhile. And best part of a salad bar are the garbanzo beans. My salads were always heavily weighted down with garbanzo beans (And only when we moved to Central Pennsylvania did I learn that they were also called chickpeas or cecis. Go figure.)

And roasted? Hello, y.u.m. My first batch stayed in the oven a bit too long, but we ate them up quickly enough. The second batch I dusted with cumin, garlic salt and a little chili powder. They won't be our last.

Photo info:
Camera: Canon Rebel XSi
Lens: Canon EF 28-135 mm (Big Daddy)
Aperture: varying
Shutter Speed: 1/125, 1/200
Focal length: 47-85 mm
ISO: 100