Whipped Feta & Roasted Chickpeas (Food from Instagram Part II)

My friend Amy and I send each other Instagram stories or posts or links to recipes with the message "let's make this!" We used to be in the habit of a weekly dinner with our families until life got crazy (crazier?) this year and now it's more like monthly.  This past weekend, I remembered one of those posts and dug it up.  Now, I remember when Instagram was brand new and just people sharing filtered photos - no pushed content, sponsored ads, or complicated algorithms.  I never thought it would be a place for recipe inspiration but most of what I save is food/recipe related.  Inevitably, the recipe & instructions are usually not specific or detailed enough so then I head down the rabbit hole of searching for a better description / methodology and end up right back at food blogs where I started.  The version below is a combination of me reading several different things on the internet.

I read that the chickpeas will get crispiest if they start out really dry (which seems counterintuitive since you're going to toss them in olive oil) and if you remove the skins.  I found that a lot of the skins came off when I dried them and I didn't get too picky about that part.

In the end, I have concluded that I like goat cheese much more than feta and I would have preferred a base like the goat cheese & balsamic blueberry appetizer that I've posted here but everyone else liked it and we ate it all!

For the whipped feta:

6 oz feta

4 oz plain greek yogurt

juice & zest of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth

For the roasted chickpeas:

2 cans garbanzo beans / chickpeas

1 T olive oil

some seasonings - I eyeballed it but used smoked paprika, oregano, and cumin

Rinse the chickpeas and dry them well with a kitchen towel or paper towels.  Put them in a bowl with the olive oil and seasonings and toss to coat.  Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour, shaking the pan every 15 minutes or so.

To serve, spread the whipped feta on a plate, top with the chickpeas, and drizzle with olive oil (optional).  We served this with pita chips but pita bread, crackers, crudite etc. would work well too.