Orecchiette With Greens, Mozzarella And Chickpea

Well tonight my darling was home.  We cooked together:).  I enjoy that because (but not only because) he always does the things I dislike: like frying and  messing with raw meat.  He prepped the chicken for tomorrow and did the cooking, while I mostly got the mise en place ready. I offered to do more but he is like me, in that he likes to cook and that he is AWESOME;).  ( He really is!)  I could tell that he wasn't really jazzed about a meatless Monday, but, as always, he handled it with good grace. He also isn't a fan of tomato chunks, which this recipe has a full cup of.  Well, to make a long story short, he loved it!  I loved it, and the boy only thought it was alright.  What would I do different next time?  Well, for starters, I would chop the chard much smaller.  When we added the cheese, all the chard clumped up.  While tasty, we would have liked to have the chard spread out over the dish rather than in a giant tasty clump.  The other oddity was the chickpeas; they were tasty, but their texture was reminiscent of stale popcorn.  I don't know if that is the way they were supposed to be, or if we didn't cook them long enough or hot enough.  The textural oddity wasn't enough to turn us off the dish though.  It was so tasty, my daughter stuffed herself to the point of purging! (ewww) My husband jokingly said he was considering eating what was left on her plate.   (no, not really) This is something we will be making again.

 Orecchiette With Greens, Mozzarella And Chickpea

  4 Servings
    1/2 lb orecchiette
           Vegetable oil,for frying
      1 c  drained canned chickpeas
           -patted dry
    1/8 t  ground cumin
    1/8 t  ground coriander
           Kosher salt and ground
           -black pepper
    1/4 c  extra-virgin olive oil
      4    garlic cloves,thinly sliced
    1/2 t  crushed red pepper
      1 c  grape tomatoes,halved
    1/2 lb Swiss chard,stemmed and
           -leaves coarsely chopped
      4    ounces fresh mozzarella,cut
           -into 1/2-inch cubes
      8    large basil leaves,torn
[Note: Fruit-forward Pinot Gris.  (from Food & Wine)  ]
1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the orecchiette until
al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium, deep skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable
oil until shimmering. Add the chickpeas and cook over high heat until
crisp, 4 minutes. Transfer them to a paper towel lined plate, sprinkle
with the cumin and coriander and season with salt and black pepper.
Discard the oil and wipe out the skillet.
3. Add the olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper to the skillet.
Cook over moderately high heat until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the
tomatoes and cook until softened, 3 minutes. Add the chard and cook,
stirring, until wilted, 5 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
4. Add the pasta and reserved cooking water to the skillet and cook
over moderate heat, stirring until incorporated. Add the mozzarella and
basil and toss. Spoon the pasta into bowls, sprinkle with the chickpeas
and serve.