2008-01-27

Chick-A-Pea Salad

This year I decided to challenge myself and get out of my cooking rut by entering some of the wonderful food blog events that I eye a little nervously at Is My Blog Burning? Susan at The Well Seasoned Cook has offered up an appealing challenge titled My Legume Love Affair, a nourishing and non-threatening place to start.
The Kid only eats two legumes regularly, green peas enthusiastically and chickpeas, which he refers to as "chick-a-peas", reluctantly. (Other legumes have all been rejected out of hand.) I combined the two contenders in a salad that would introduce him to some new flavors, hopefully without going too far out of his comfort zone.
Salad:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3/4 C frozen green peas, thawed and drained
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 green onions, sliced

Dressing:
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
juice from 1 lemon (approx 1/4 C)
1/3 C olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste
handful of flat-leaf parsley chopped or 1 Tbs dried parsley flakes

Prep salad ingredients, combine in a serving bowl and set aside. (You may wish to keep the green onions separate and use them as a garnish for the adults only.) Combine all dressing ingredients except parsley and whisk together until emulsified. Stir in parsley, then add as much as desired to salad ingredients and toss. (The extra keeps well in the fridge.)
The Kid wasn't as enthusiastic as I'd hoped he'd be, but he was tired and cranky at dinner. He did like the dressing, which is his first exposure to an exceedingly mild vinaigrette. We'll definitely give this another shot, especially since my husband, who is not a salad eater, really enjoyed it. Thanks again to Susan for inspiring a new dish!

1 comment:

Meg Wolff said...

I found you through the Legume Event. I love chickpeas too and you recipe looks great!