Green Beans, Feta & Crispy Chickpeas with Lemon Yogurt

Ingredients

• 350g green beans, trimmed
• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 220g Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 120g feta, crumbled
• 15g mint, roughly chopped
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Warm flatbreads, to serve
• Simple green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C fan. Tip the drained chickpeas onto a clean tea towel and pat them properly dry — wet chickpeas steam, dry chickpeas crisp. This is the difference between rattling and rubbery.
2. Toss the chickpeas with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the cumin, smoked paprika, a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. The oil and heat will bloom the spices on the tray as they roast — raw cumin and paprika taste dusty, bloomed they taste of themselves. Spread across a large tray in a single layer; crowd them and they steam instead of crisping.
3. Roast for 25–30 minutes total, until crisp and rattling when you shake the tray. After the first 10 minutes, scatter the green beans onto the tray with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and another pinch of salt. Toss everything halfway through so the chickpeas colour evenly and the beans pick up blistered, charred edges without drying out.
4. While the tray is in the oven, stir the Greek yoghurt with the lemon zest, half the lemon juice and the grated garlic. The garlic is raw here — grated fine so it disappears into the yoghurt rather than hitting you in chunks. Taste and season with salt until it reads properly lemony and savoury, not shy.
5. Spread the lemon yoghurt across a platter or shallow bowls in a generous swoosh, pulling it out to the edges with the back of the spoon.
6. Pile the roasted beans and crispy chickpeas straight from the tray onto the yoghurt while still warm — the heat softens the yoghurt at the edges and that contrast is the whole point. Taste one chickpea before plating; adjust salt now, not at the table.
7. Scatter over the crumbled feta and torn mint, then finish with a squeeze of lemon from the remaining half and a pinch of chilli flakes. Tuck the warm flatbreads alongside with the simple green salad and bring it to the table.