Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Salad

Chickpeas, roasted eggplant, red onion and fresh cilantro tossed in lemon vinaigrette are the fixings for a fantastic light lunch or a side dish for dinner. I made this for lunch yesterday from a BBC recipe I came across and it's one more recipe that continues my love affair with chickpeas. They're easy and cheap and even cheaper if you buy dried chickpeas in bulk. I like to buy canned chickpeas by the armful when they go on sale - so I always have plenty on hand and only a can opener away.




I particularly like the Moroccan flavours in this dish. Of course the roasted eggplant gives it a real Morocaan flair but also the paprika, cumin and cilantro. This is an interesting salad with lots of subtle flavours and ranks up there with some of my other favorites such as this recipe for chickpea goji berry salad and warm butternut and chickpea salad with tahini. The beans add protein, which makes this a complete, light meal. Perfect for the spring or summer.


Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients

Salad
3 eggplants
1 can (540 ml/19 oz) of chickpeas
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Dressing
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon and a pinch of paprika (smoked or Hungarian)
1 teaspoon honey
juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Cube the eggplant in about one half inch cubes, toss in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the chickpeas, then tip into a bowl with the roasted eggplant, garlic, red onion and cilantro. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and drizzle over the chickpeas and eggplant. Enjoy!

Perfect weekday lunch: Chickpea Goji Berry Salad

It's Alive magazine's suggestion to make this salad on a lazy Sunday afternoon and bring to work for weekday lunches. A hearty salad of chickpeas, mandarin oranges, almonds, goji berries and feta cheese. I like practical tips like this - easy to follow and makes perfect sense. With the advice appealing to my sensibilities and the recipe appealing to my tastes, I fell for this salad hook, line and sinker.


It wasn't immediate though. I thought about this salad for a good two months before making it. I was 90 per cent sure it would be good, but still something held me back. The goji berries.

As healthy as this superfood is, adding them to a salad made me pause. You can buy them at any well stocked grocery store, in the bulk section. Tasty, but they're a little tough or dense to chew and could catch a person off guard, biting down on one when you're not expecting it. But, the beauty of this salad is that by letting the salad chill for an hour - or overnight - the goji berries and almonds soften slightly. Perfectly.

After making this salad three times now I'm confidently coming out to say it's a keeper. It's fresh and interesting tasting, and good. But you don't need to wait for a lazy Sunday to make it. It's a fast, easy salad to toss together which makes it perfect for weekdays when your time is tight and energy low.


Chickpea Goji Berry Salad (serves 4)
Adapted slightly from Alive Magazine

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds, roasted and unsalted, chopped

1 - 19 oz (532 g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 - 10 oz (280 g) can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/2 cup dried goji berries

1/2 red onion, diced 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
 (optional)
handful of chopped cilantro or parsley
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Store in refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Chickpea spinach salad

Stop me if I'm repeating myself, chickpeas (especially those of the canned variety) are just too easy NOT to use. They are healthy, hearty and go very well in salads.

I came across this recipe for chickpea spinach salad with cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt sauce on Well Fed and just had to try it. Very tasty, I will definitely make this one again. True to all other chickpea salads, this is easy to make. All you need to do is open the can and drain, there's no peeling, chopping, dicing or cooking. What's not to love.

The only thing I did differently then Well Fed's version is instead of using the spinach as a bed of greens to build the salad on, I chopped the spinach and mixed it right into the salad along with the rest of the ingredients.


Chickpea spinach salad with cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt
Serves 2

Ingredients
(For the salad)
28 ounce (796 ml) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped spinach
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped

(For the cumin vinaigrette)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

(For the orange yogurt sauce)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon honey

Directions
Combine chickpeas, parsley, red onion, spinach and mint. Prepare the cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt and add to salad just before serving. Top with a dollop of the orange sauce. And, most importantly, enjoy.

Mexican Chickpea Salad

Chickpeas make for terrific salads, especially for vegetarians or for people who don't eat a lot of red meat. They're high in protein, fiber and minerals such as iron. And, using canned chickpeas over dried chickpeas makes using them just too easy. I've read that chickpeas, unlike most other canned items, do not lose any nutrients when canned. Just be sure to give them a good rinse.

This recipe for Mexican Chickpea Salad is one of my favorites. If you ever feel a little tired or overworked, just make this salad and enjoy it while sitting out in the sun- it tastes like a Mexican get-away.

The secret to this recipe is lime juice and chipotle chiles. And, to help you along, here's a trick I learned from Chef Heidi Fink. Open a can of chipotle chiles and transfer the entire contents into a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend and then using a sterile spoon, transfer into a sterile canning jar. You can store the minced chiptles in your fridge for 3-4 weeks. This way, you have easy to use chipotle chiles on hand for sauces, salad dressings, or soups.

Mexican Chickpea Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients
1.5 tablespoons minced chipotle chiles in adobo
1 jalapeno, minced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 plum tomatoes, diced
28 ounce (796 ml) can of chickpeas
generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper

Directions
Rinse and drain chickpeas into a large bowl.

Add finely chopped red onion, minced garlic, jalapeno, chipotle chile, diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro and olive oil. Add salt and pepper and lime juice. Stir all together and give a good taste.

Adjust seasonings to taste. Enjoy!

Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini

I'm not sure why I'm still thinking about ways to incorporate squash into dinners, it's March after all. I thought I had eaten enough squash back in October, November and December to last me the year.

It started with learning this easy way to take the hard shell off the buttercup, kabocha and red kari varieties.

Tip!

Cut the squash in nearly half, then cut the half in crescent moon segments. Lay each segment on its side and cut the shell off, inch by inch as you work your way around the crescent.

I came across this posting for Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini. Served warm, this salad is perfect- delicious, hardy, comforting yet with a hint of something a little different (it's called tahini). All that was needed to complete was some crusty dinner rolls and butter. I've repeated the recipe here just so I have an easy access copy, but I encourage you to click over and take a look at Orangette.

Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini (Serves 4)
adapted from Casa Moro

Ingredients
1 medium buttercup squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
14 ounce (398 ml) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¼ of a medium red onion, finely chopped
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

For tahini sauce:
1 medium garlic clove, finely minced with a pinch of salt
3 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the squash, garlic, allspice, olive oil, and a good pinch or two of salt. Using a large spoon or your hands, toss until the squash pieces are evenly coated. Turn them out onto a baking sheet, and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and cool.

Meanwhile, make the tahini sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic and lemon juice. Add the tahini, and whisk to blend. Add the water and olive oil, whisk well, and taste for seasoning. The sauce should have plenty of nutty tahini flavor, but also a little kick of lemon. (I found that my tahini was a little bitter and that the lemon was a bit much, so I added additional olive oil to tame both.)

To assemble the salad, combine the squash, chickpeas, onion, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Add tahini sauce to taste, and toss carefully. (Alternatively, you can also serve the salad undressed, with the tahini sauce on the side. That way, each person can use as much or as little as they want). Enjoy.

too many magazines

I really don't like clutter, and yet I'm constantly buying up old food magazines on the weekend. They're all neatly piled on shelves, but yet so many of them have been sitting around for years without having anything cooked out of them. Here's a recipe I can't remember if I've tried- or if I have what I thought of it. It sounds healthy, and I always like trying different grain salads.


Lemon Chickpea Salad with Feta

Ingredients
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup uncooked bulgar
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup canned chickpeas rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped peeled cucumber
2 tablespoons chopped celery
2 tablespoons diced red onion
1.5 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1.5 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine 1/2 cup boiling water, bulgar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a medium bowl. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes (I would cover though recipe doesn't say).

Add chickpeas, cucumber, celery, red onion, feta and dill tossing gently.

Combine 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice, salt, pepper in a small bowl stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over bulgar mixture. cover, chill and serve.