Fresh Salad with Toasted Chickpeas

I love salad season. I also love Bed Bath and Beyond who very happily exchanged my 3 year old salad spinner that had a frayed string with a brand new, shiny spinner to clean my organic garden greens! This was a delicious salad put together with minimal effort. I soaked the garbanzos (chickpeas) the night before and simply tossed them with oil and seasonings, laid them on a cookie sheet and stirred occasionally until done to my liking.

Toasted Garbanzos

• Dried garbanzos, soaked overnight
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Smoked Paprika
• Curry powder

You can season with whatever you like. Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. You can bake them longer to be more crunchy, but i kind of like them cake/chestnut like.

The Salad

• Organic lettuce
• Green Onions
• Frozen peas
• Hemp seeds
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing

Warm Chickpeas and Cool Cucumbers - Vegetarian Recipe

The cucumbers keep on giving, and i keep on eating them. Tonight i paired some warm chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with some cool cucumbers and fresh herbs to create a delightful juxtaposition.

Warm:

• Garbanzo beans, soaked for a few hours, about 1 cup or so
• Fresh kaffir lime leaf, crushed
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• Chilly powder
• Salt (added near end)
• Handful of Matt's Wild cherry tomatoes (or one small regular tomato diced)
• Drizzle olive oil

Bring beans to a boil with rest of the ingredients, covering and simmering until beans are soft. Once soft, uncover and CAREFULLY cook off the water. It's nice to get a little toasting at the bottom of the pan, but you don't want to accidentally char them into burnt crisps. (yes, i've done that) Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.


Cool:

• Several cucumbers, diced
• Bunch lemon basil
• Drizzle balsamic and red wine vinegar
• Salt

Mix the chopped veg and herb with vinegars and salt. Refrigerate until serving.

Serve with the cool on the bottom and the warm on the top/side. Such a great flavor combination of warm and rich and earthy, plus cool and tangy and bright.  I tried to get a good review quote from the husband, but he says i'm putting him on the spot. Needless to say, he really liked it :)
And with all the fiber in both the cukes and the chickpeas - we were pleasantly satisfied. (Until i busted out the popcorn air popper during Saturday Night Live).

Recipe(let): Mexican Corn Salad

I make a salad such as this often, and with assorted seasonal ingredients. You could make it with black beans, green beans, peas, even lentils or barley or quinoa. The point is to create a complete protein by combining a legume with a grain: in this case Fava Beans and Corn. The favas were a bit tough as i'd left them on the bush for a while to let everyone mature enough to pick all at once - this might have been nicer with a quick blanch or just fresher favas. This also would have been great with jicama, but i had none on hand. This is a great salad by itself, or as i served it on top of salad for me and hot black beans for the husband. You can make a big batch of it and keep it in the fridge for quick lunches or snacks: it only gets better in time. Here's the recipe as it appears, followed by suggestions for ingredient alternatives of additions:

• Fava beans 
• Corn (about 1 part corn to 2 parts beans)
• Finely chopped spring onion: white and green parts
• Pinch diced cilantro to taste
• Minced garlic
• Dashes cumin, chilly powder, cayenne, salt & pepper
• Light drizzle olive oil
• Heavy drizzle lime juice: 1-2 Tablespoons or more to taste
• Splash raspberry balsamic vinegar

Alternatives/Additions:

• Exchange Fava Beans with Black beans, white beans, pinto beans, lentils, quinoa, or even orzo to change it to a pasta salad (no longer a complete protein)
• Red onions
• Diced fresh hot peppers: serrano, jalapeno, habanero, etc
• Diced fresh bell peppers
• Diced tomato
• Chives
• Jicama
• Change the spices from "Mexican" to "Indian" by adding curry, more cumin, cardamom and subbing mint for the cilantro

Voila. Quick and easy meal. I was actually not so hungry after doing an evening step aerobics class so there is leftover salad waiting for me for lunch today. Not too shabby!

What is your favorite use for fava beans? Do you prefer them fresh or cooked?

Coleslaw

My mother has coined this "southwestern coleslaw" but i'm not sure why. (she is a yankee. she has very sensitive  mouthbuds to heat. i'm talking regular pepper, here)

I just whipped this together with ideas in my head of what i thought would make coleslaw that i would like, as i don't like coleslaw.
This is what i ended up with.

• about a half a head of Napa Cabbage, shredded very thinly and chopped
• about 2 heaping tablespoons each of low fat mayo and miracle whip
• one thawed ice cube of meyer lemon juice
• several dashes crushed red pepper
• about 5 small leaves lime basil, a front fresh dill and parsely, all chopped finely - total about 1 tablespoon fresh herbs
• salt and pepper
• a quarter sweet onion, chopped finely
• a quarter apple, shredded

Toss all veg and herb ingredients together then add wet ingredients and stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.