Food Recipes Garlic Toast With Squash, Pesto, and Olive Oil-Braised Chickpeas 5.0 (5) 1 Review Say hello to your new favorite vegetarian meal. While this garlic toast is simple to put together, the flavors are layered and complex. By Grace Elkus Grace Elkus Grace Elkus is a food writer and editor with over a decade of experience in culinary media. Highlights: * Associate food editor at Real Simple, where she developed recipes, wrote food stories, and assisted with styling * Deputy food director at Kitchn, where she and her team were responsible for 100 recipes a month * Currently the content lead for JOKR Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on October 26, 2022 Rate PRINT Share Close Photo: Jennifer Causey Hands On Time: 25 mins Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: 2 toasts) To make this flavorful take on garlic toast, slabs of garlicky oiled toast are piled high with mashed, roasted kabocha squash, herb pesto, and chickpeas. You’ll braise the chickpeas in oil and garlic, so they become deeply flavorful, and then that oil is what infuses each piece of toast. Ingredients 1 kabocha squash (about 3 lb.), halved, seeded, and sliced into 1-in.-thick wedges ⅓ cup plus 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided 2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided 1 head garlic 1 (15.5-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 8 (1-in.-thick) country-style bread slices ⅓ cup store-bought pesto Directions Heat oven to 400°F. Toss together squash, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of pepper on a rimmed baking sheet. Remove 1 clove from garlic head; peel, halve, and reserve clove for bread. Slice remaining garlic head in half crosswise. Combine chickpeas, ⅓ cup of the oil, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and remaining ½ teaspoon pepper in a 2-quart baking dish. Nestle halved garlic head, cut side down, into chickpeas. Bake squash and chickpeas at same time until squash is tender and chickpeas are soft, 30 to 35 minutes. Scoop flesh from squash skins, and transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and ½ teaspoon salt to squash; mash until smooth using a potato masher or fork. Place bread on rimmed baking sheet. Spoon some of the oil from chickpea dish onto each bread slice. Bake at 400°F until edges are golden and toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Rub toasted bread with reserved garlic clove. Top toasts evenly with mashed squash, pesto, and chickpeas. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves from skin, and divide among toasts. Rate It Print