Baked Chickpea Falafel

On Friday night, Zach and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary!!

(If you happen to recall the post about our 2nd anniversary, you may at this point be shaking your head in confusing, wondering "wasn't their anniversary in October last year?" If so, you'd be correct... but last October, we weren't yet engaged, and this year, we decided our engagement anniversary trumps our previous anniversary date! Have an "engaged for a year" anniversary is just one of the many lovely aspects of having a long, dreamy engagement... :-)

For our first anniversary, in 2007, we shared a romantic dinner at a little Italian restaurant, and last year, for our second anniversary, we spent the day at a vineyard, so this year we decided to be a bit more casual and quirky, and drove downtown to visit our now official, long-standing favorite destination, The Brick Store Pub. The atmosphere was perfectly festive without being too boisterous, and we laughed and reminisced for hours over a positively heavenly meal.

Then, back home to exchange presents... :-)

(Dragon Age for Zach...)

(and a copy of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, for me! :-)

The next day, yesterday afternoon, I wanted to fix a special lunch for Zach, and somehow it dawned on me how long it's been since I've fixed... falafel. Since Zach became enraptured with falafel from the very first time I introduced him to this bit of chickpea magic, I decided to fill the house with the alluring scents of cumin and coriander... While I've prepared dozens of renditions of falafel before, this time I wanted to conjure a light, baked falafel, so I fixed a dough sticky enough to hold together in the oven, but still light enough to provide that wonderful, crispy-moist sensation upon each nibble, then simply coated each little, round falafel with olive oil cooking spray so the outsides would still be golden brown, ready to coat with hummus and fold inside a pita bread...

Perhaps it's strange that I fix Zach falafel as part of his anniversary present, instead of us going out again for lunch, or perhaps it's odd that I consider the joy of being able to cook lunch for us to be part of my present... but so it is with us. Anniversaries, in a cozy, happy, foodie household. May we be blessed with a lifetime of more...

Baked Chickpea Falafel

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained

3 rounded T tahini

2 egg whites

2 tsp lemon zest

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 T dried minced onion

2 T minced parsley

Olive oil cooking spray

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

~ In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, tahini, egg whites, lemon zest, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, chili powder, garlic, and salt until a thick paste is formed.

~ Transfer the paste to a bowl, and stir in the whole wheat flour, baking powder, dried onion, and parsley.

~ Using your hands, roll the dough into 1 1/2" diameter balls, just as though you were making sugar cookies, and place the balls on the baking sheet.

~ Coat the top and sides of each falafel ball with a mist of olive oil cooking spray.

~ Bake the falafel for 20 minutes - until the outsides are golden brown.

~ Serve warm, with hummus and pita!