Braised Chickpeas With Zucchini And Pesto

Last summer, when my younger child joined my older child at sleepaway camp for a month for the first time, leaving us unmoored and a little restless, we made a list of restaurants we’d been meaning to try and friends we don’t see enough and took this task on like it was our job. I barely cooked once. By the end of the third week, everything hurt and we realized our template for a child-free life (going out late, cocktails on weeknights, and generally behaving despicably) was based on our age and energy level when we were last child-free.

But what do you cook when you don’t have your little ones heckling you at the table with cantankerous opinions on what you have had the audacity to present them for dinner? Chickpeas, it turns out, and lots of zucchini. And we can’t get enough of this one.

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups vegetable broth
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 pound summer squash or zucchini, quartered lengthwise, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup prepared or storebought basil pesto
• 8 ounces of burrata or 1 cup fresh ricotta
• Grated parmesan cheese, to finish
• Sliced sourdough or country bread, grilled or toasted