Even faster fix for dinner: tomato-carrot-chick pea raggu

This is the end of the year at the university and it is a busy time for both professor and students. Recently, I'm coming back home later and later in particular because this no excuse not to go to the gym. Last night after my pilates class I needed a very quick fix for dinner so that it allowed me to have some time to prepare the apartment for my sister's visit later this week (yes! Prunellia is flying to Tokyo very soon!).

Chick peas are really handy when it comes to prepare something in 5 minutes! Dinner menu tonight: tomato & chick peas raggu with carrots.

I first roughly cut tomatoes and cooked them in olive oil, add laurel, ginger, carvi seeds, salt and pepper and small carrots halved. 

I left it on low heat, time to do the other tasks I had to do. Then once ready to eat I added a can of drained chick peas and served with baby leaf salad, olive oil and linen seeds. Delicious, warm and slightly spicy!

Chick peas and spinach soup "my way"

After 2 days of cold rain, which is not so common, I needed a sunny and warm dish. Since I just bought Koganei-grown spinach I come up with the idea of chick peas and spinach soup. And the idea went very well for a ready-in-ten-minutes dinner!

I cut roughly the spinach and boiled them in water where I've added a few carvi seeds and veggie consommé. In the mean time I've cooked some couscous with a few sultanas and pine nuts, and a bit of olive oil. When the spinach were soft I've added drained tinned chick peas (yes! Sometimes canned ingredients can be of tremendous help!!). And it's ready!!! The slightly spicy soup goes very well with the slightly sweet semolina, a perfect match!