Monday's Recipe - Beans and Nuts!

Today's recipe is a personal favorite of my wife. She will often make this as her dinner, although they are a very tasty appetizer for parties. The recipe comes from Bon Appetit, February 2003.
I love pistachios but not too keen on the garbanzo, but have come to love this spicy combo. We find the raw pistachio meats most readily at Trader Joes. You can play with the heat if you like and my wife uses dried thyme instead of fresh.

Spicy Toasted Garbanzo Beans and Pistachios

• 2 15 1/2-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
  
• 1/4 cup corn oil
  
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
  
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
  
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper



• 1 cup shelled raw pistachios
  
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss garbanzo beans with next five ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer mixture to rimmed baking sheet. Bake until garbanzos are golden and crisp, stirring occasionally with a metal spatula, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Keep at room temperature.) Stir pistachios and thyme into garbanzo mixture. Bake until beans and pistachios are crunchy, about 12 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl and serve warm.