This one-tray veg bake is simple, healthy and delicious

This recipe is great for using up any left-over greens in your fridge. I use whatever I have – spinach, chard, sometimes beetroot leaves.

Chickpeas are perfect with lemon and honey.

Ella Mittas

less than 2 min read

11:29AMMay 30, 2024.

Updated 5:38AMJune 05, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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My father’s side of the family is Greek. They all live on one street, in houses next door to each other. There are holes cut between backyard fences, so everyone can be together easily. That one small section of street has given me a sense of community and belonging I haven’t been able to locate in the rest of my life. It seems separate from the rest of Australia, but it’s a version of Greece abstracted from the real thing; its traditions are built on distant memories. The language spoken is Gringlish, a mix of both places. I’ve always felt that somewhere inside that place, among the carved-out fences, is where my true identity lies. I’ve looked for more concrete examples of that elusive sense of community for years: a place where it exists in its entirety, where it’s set in stone.

This recipe is great for using up any left-over greens in your fridge. I use whatever I have – spinach, chard, sometimes beetroot leaves. Similarly, with the herbs, use a mix of whatever you have on hand.

Try also my other recipes: Cauliflower freekeh salad and potato salad with herbs & roast almonds.

Ella Mittas. Author profile by Jessica Grilli.

Chickpeas and greens are staples of Greek cuisine.

Chickpeas baked with lemon & honey

Ingredients

• 1 bunch silverbeet
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus extra to season
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 lemon
• ½ cup chopped mixed dill, mint and spring onions
• Flake salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Start off by preheating your oven to 180C. Wash the silverbeet – I finely chop it, then leave it to soak in a sink full of water before draining well.
2. Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a saucepan for around 15 minutes until golden, then add the garlic and sauté until aromatic: 30 seconds.
3. Add the silverbeet and stir it through the oil, allowing it to wilt.
4. Add the chickpeas and sauté briefly. Transfer everything to a baking dish and add the rest of the olive oil and the honey.
5. Cut the lemon in half and add it to the baking dish. Bake for around 40 minutes or until most of the liquid has been cooked out of the silverbeet. Season with salt, pepper, extra olive oil and the pulp of the baked lemon. The lemon will be mellower than a fresh lemon, but taste as you go – it’ll still be quite acidic.
6. Stir in the mixed greens and serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 4 as a side

This is an edited extract from Ela! Ela! by Ella Mittas