The Secret Street

🥄 Prep Time: 10 min
🔥 Cook Time: 25 min
🍽️ Servings: 2
🌿 Type: Vegan

This hearty Mediterranean-inspired dish combines roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, almonds, and smoky spices into a rich romesco-style sauce. Creamy chickpeas soak up the flavor, and crusty ciabatta is perfect for scooping every last bite. Simple, soulful, and packed with goodness.

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🛒 Ingredients

• 1 red pepper
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 50 g unsalted almonds
• 1 tin chickpeas (400 g, including liquid)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 vegetable stock pod
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp chilli flakes (adjust to taste)
• 2 ciabatta rolls
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• Olive oil
• Salt

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👩‍🍳 Method

1. 🔥 Roast the Vegetables

• Slice the pepper into strips, then halve the strips.
• Add to a baking tray with half the cherry tomatoes.
• Drizzle with olive oil and roast at 200 °C for 20 minutes until softened and slightly charred.

2. 🌰 Toast the Almonds

• Peel the almonds (see tip below) and toast them in a dry pan for 3–4 minutes until golden. Don’t let them burn!
• Set aside.

💡 Quick almond-peeling trick: Soak almonds in boiling water for 1 minute, then rinse in cold water. Pinch each almond—the skin slips right off!

3. 🍅 Start the Chickpeas

• Quarter the remaining cherry tomatoes.
• Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan and sauté the tomatoes for 3–4 minutes.
• Add the chickpeas (with their liquid), stir, and remove from the heat.

4. 🥘 Build the Base

• When the roasted veg are ready, add half the roasted pepper to the chickpea pan.
• Place the ciabatta in the still-warm oven to toast using residual heat.

5. 🧄 Make the Romesco-Style Sauce

Blend until smooth:

• Remaining roasted pepper and tomatoes
• Most of the toasted almonds (reserve some for garnish)
• Smoked paprika
• White wine vinegar
• Vegetable stock pod
• Tomato paste
• Chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Add a splash of water if needed for a creamy consistency.

6. 🥄 Finish the Dish

• Pour the sauce into the chickpea pan.
• Heat gently for 2–3 minutes until thick and creamy.
• Stir in most of the chopped parsley and season with salt.

7. 🍞 Serve

• Ladle the smoky chickpeas into bowls.
• Top with remaining almonds and parsley.
• Serve with toasted ciabatta for dipping.

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✨ Make-Ahead Tip: This dish tastes even better the next day as the flavors meld. Double the recipe and enjoy effortless leftovers!