I’m a big fan of Lorca Coffee Bar in Stamford, CT and on a recent visit I tried their Harissa Chickpea Toast, which entails: multigrain toast, whipped ricotta, romesco sauce, harissa marinated chickpeas and roasted red pepper slices. I absolutely loved the combination of spicy harissa and the whipped ricotta and I knew I would have to try to replicate this at home. I ended up creating a very loose adaption of the recipe with roasted vegetables, harissa baked chickpeas and whipped ricotta in mini bread cups, which is a fun appetizer that seems super fancy and complicated, but is actually extremely easy!
Roasted Vegetable & Harissa Chickpea Bread Cups – Serving Size:
3 Mini Bread Cups
INGREDIENTS –
Roasted veggies, I used this sheet pan vegetable recipe, find under the vegetable section
1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained
1/4 teaspoon of harissa
1/3 cup of ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 slice of bread (I like to use whole-wheat bread), cut in thirds with
crust removed
1 tablespoon butter, melted
RECIPE –
1. Set oven to 400º F
2. Roast veggies following this recipe
3. In a small bowl add chickpeas and harissa and mix throughly. Put harissa marinated chickpeas on an oiled sheet pan
4. Bake chickpeas for 15 minutes or until crispy
5. While veggies and chickpeas are in the oven make your whipped ricotta by combining ricotta, lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil in a bowl and then mixing in a food processor or with a hand mixer
6. Grease 3 cavities of a mini muffin tin tray (I like to use spray vegetable oil to grease the pan)
7. Cut your slice of bread in thirds and remove crust
8. Use a pastry brush (or knife) to coat bread pieces with melted butter
9. Put buttered bread pieces into 3 mini muffin tin cavities and form into a cup shape
10. Bake bread cups for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown
11. Let bread cup cool and then add roasted veggie and harissa chickpeas and top with whipped ricotta.
12. Enjoy warm!