Chickpea Salad
This is an idea more than a recipe - I encourage you to riff on it with whatever you have in your pantry and your fridge but the olive oil, lemon, salt, chickpeas and herbs are essential. It makes a great vegan lunch or a side with dinner.
- 1/2 fresh lemon, juiced (you may need more, depending on your lemon and your taste)
- 60 milliliters extra virgin olive oil (1/4c, this is a place to use your "better" olive oil if you have one)
- 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (this is about 1 x 398ml can, drained but you can use home-cooked chickpeas)
- 1/4-1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil, dill or a combination)
- salt & pepper (to taste - this recipe takes a fair amount of salt)
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons minced red onion or shallot
- 3 tablespoons chopped bell pepper (or any other veggies you might want to add)
- 1 can tuna, drained and flaked (this makes the dish more substantial)
- blanched green beans, chopped
- artichoke hearts, chopped
- leftover boiled potatoes, chopped
Mix the lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl. Add all other ingredients (and any optional additions) and mix well. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Let sit for a minimum of 30 minutes for the flavours to blesh, up to two hours at room temperature. You can definitely let it sit longer than two hours (it makes great leftovers) but keep it in the fridge after two hours.
I prefer to serve this at room temperature and I would recommend checking for salt before you serve it as it has a way of soaking up and disappearing the salt you've already added.
