Coming off some pretty righteous food poisoning or stomach flu or God-hates-me-death-virus, my appetite this past week was meek at best. You have no idea just how many food related programs and commercials and plotlines there are on television until each one of them has you moaning in disgust. Bleh.
Thankfully, I’m inching my way back into the kitchen and am excited to start in on some summer recipes. This salad is just what the doctor ordered, light, fresh and spicy. Umm, ok, maybe I should be avoiding the spicy bit for a few more days, but I could get hit by a bus by then. So, live a little, right?
This recipe calls for Ras El Hanout, a Moroccan spice blend. You can find it in well-stocked grocery stores (I found mine at Borough Market in London!) or you can make your own by following this recipe.
Ingredients
Roast Chickpeas
1 15-ounce tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
2 tablespoons olive oil
scant 1 tablespoon Ras El Hanout
1 big pinch salt
Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
juice of ½ a key lime
1 pinch cumin seeds
½ teaspoon Ras El Hanout
3 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Salad
2 large portions Mesclun salad mix
1 large tomato, cut into chunks
1 carrot, shredded
Whatever else your salad loving heart desires
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 6.
Toss chickpeas together with olive oil, spices and salt. Lay out onto a cookie sheet in one even layer. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy.
To make the dressing whisk together all the ingredients except the scallion and parsley. Taste and adjust saltiness. Whisk until emulsified, then stir in scallion and parsley.
To assemble the salad make a bed of greens, add tomato, carrots and whatever else you like. Pour in dressing and toss. Top with chickpeas and garnish with a few extra bits of parsley and scallion.