Merguez, Chickpeas & Kale

I have not cooked in over three weeks now and this is a record for me in my adult life. I've been cooking almost everyday for over 15 years and to be honest, it's slightly disconcerting to not be in charge of cooking anymore.
I've recently started working full time again and unlike the last year when I was working full time and making homemade meals for both my husband and I, this year I've decided to not do it for the sake of my own sanity. It's really difficult to be out the house for the majority of the day and then find time to have both breakfast and dinner at home and find time to workout AND take care of all other chores. So I've decided to outsource my cooking. I found a meal delivery service that does both local and organic. It's honestly nothing to write home about (it's basically bland on bland), but it saves me time with the grocery shopping, cooking and the cleaning up. It's pretty nutritious (albeit not as nutritious or low-calorie as I used to make). But I'm compromising on these things to get some extra time to be able to take care of my other regular chores and to work out.
This weekend though, after three weeks of eating bland food, my husband and I decided to cook. And although it created more work for me on a weekend that was already full of chores, I ended up enjoying the food so much that I can't wait to find another relatively easy weekend to cook again. Also, I over salted my food a little, but it still tasted far more amazing than anything I've eaten in the last few weeks.

I always thought I cooked regular food. But given the last few weeks meals from this delivery service, I realize the food we ate at home was far from regular food. And I'm grateful for that. That I have a palate that appreciates good food. That I don't eat to live all the time, but live to eat while still appreciating healthy and nutritious foods.
Anyway, coming to the recipe, it's another winner from Athena Calderone's book, Cook Beautiful. A simple recipe concept that tastes far better than the sum of it's parts. I highly recommend you make your own merguez for this (I added a recipe for that below). A lot of pre-made merguez sausages are barely spiced and will not add much flavor to your dish. Adding chickpeas and kale brings a nice toothsome texture to the dish and a fried egg with a runny yolk to top it off brings it all together. I hope you enjoy it as much I did!

Recipe adapted from Cook Beautiful by Athena Calderone
Makes 5 servings

Ingredients:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3/4 tsp fennel seeds
scant 1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1 lb ground beef (or traditionally lamb)
2/3 cup dry chickpeas, cooked (should equal ~ 2 cups cooked chickpeas)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch kale, leaves stripped off stems and finely sliced
1/2 to 3/4 tsp sea salt
1 lemon, zest and juice
5 fried eggs

Procedure:
First, make the merguez by toasting coriander, cumin and fennel seeds in a pan (stovetop) till light brown. Let it cool a little and grind to a powder. Mix this spice mixture along with salt, paprika, cayenne powder with the ground beef and mix well so it's evenly distributed.
Heat a wide cast iron pan and add oil. Saute onions till a nice even brown and then add garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the merguez sausage and break them into little clumps. Cook till it's no longer pink. Increase the heat to high and brown it well. Once well browned, add chickpeas and heat through. Add kale and fold them them in. Add salt and mix it in. Cook until the kale is just wilted. Take the pan off the heat and zest the lemon over it and sprinkle the juice. Mix it again once more and serve topped with a fried egg.