Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Chickpea Salad with Herbs and Vegetables

I knew this week was going to warm up and the last thing I want to do when it gets hot is cook over a hot stove and eat something heavy.  I ate a lot of salads last summer but I hated the prep work that went with that (I'm anal about cleaning romaine leaves since I'm always worried I'll accidentally eat a bug), and bag lettuce goes bad so quickly.  This chickpea salad involves a little less prep work and chopping since the bulk of this salad are the chickpeas and not lettuce.  It's also a lot quicker to throw together on a weeknight after work if you do the chopping in advance, which is what I did.  And this is a super flavorful dish that you can eat during the hot months without feeling gross afterwards.  This can be eaten as a meal or portion it out smaller as sides to your entree.  A great thing about this salad is that you can use whatever vegetables you want so throw in your favorites for this satisfying vegetarian dish!

Servings: 2-6 (depends on how you're eating this as an entree or side dish)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 cups halved grape tomatoes
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups cucumbers, chopped (I like the Trader Joe's persian cucumbers)
1/4 kalamata olives, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

A couple notes:

  • I also threw in a couple handfuls of chopped green onions that I had leftover from another dish.  I know this dish already has red onions but I love onions of all kind and can't get enough of them!  Use whatever vegetables you like for additions or substitutions)
  • This dish was very flavorful and pungent in a good way but if you want it less strong, decrease the herbs and garlic a bit.  Also if you have fresh herbs and the patience to chop them, then definitely use them instead of the dried ones!  I love fresh herbs, but I got lazy and the dried herbs here were still delicious!

Instructions:

  • In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 4 minced garlic cloves and whisk together.
  • In a large bowl mix together 2 cans chickpeas, 3/4 chopped red onion, 1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives, 1 tbsp parsley, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp thyme, 1 cup feta cheese, 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, 2 cups chopped cucumbers, 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper.  
  • Drizzle the vinegar dressing over the chickpea salad, toss well, and enjoy!

The entire time I was prepping the salad my pugs were like this:
Or like this:
Sorry girls, you can't have any!  But please come closer and stay still for a second while I taunt you with the food so that I can take some photos. 
Ok last one and then I'll give you a carrot and peanut butter treat!
Adapted from My Recipes.

3 comments:

  1. I made this and it turned out really good. I left out the garlic, unfortunately my belly doesn't tolerate it well. Still very good especially in hot weather. For some reason I'm not feeling like eating meat lately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear it came out yummy! I can see how it would be ok without the garlic, because there are so many flavors at play here.

      Delete
  2. Hi my new friends-- I would love to taste this too! Thank you for stopping in to say hi,
    love
    tweedles

    ReplyDelete