March 8, 2014

Beets, Blue Cheese, and Chickpea Salad

I'm moving everything from the cooking closet [my other blog that has been inactive for over a year] over here to MN365. I'm decluttering. Hope it's not too annoying! (-:

---------------------------------------------------------

I don't know if I was extra hungry for lunch today [by "today" I mean sometime in March 2012] or if this was just THE BEST SALAD EVER, but you need to make this salad. ASAP.
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
Methinks, tomorrow sounds like a good time.
(-:

Also, I want "methinks" to be revived. Mostly because methinks, "methinks" is so funny. Who says that?!?!

Generally, I'm pretty sure that salads I make at home are crappy. Why are they crappy? Because I like to put too much on them. There's so much going on I can't distinguish anything in my mouth. No bueno. I need to plan more frequently because when I have a plan I can exercise some topping-control.

This salad is basically three toppings, dressing and your lettuce. KISS it: Keep It Simple Stupid. I learned that at basketball camp in 6th grade.

OK, the chickpeas (aka garbanzos) are spicy, salty, crunchy texture on this salad and they take about 30 minutes of cooking time.
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
I loosely followed the directions from Steamy Kitchen's Crispy Roasted Chickpeas. The "loosely" means I didn't read through everything and I salted and seasoned my chickpeas before I baked them, and I didn't bake them quite long enough because I was impatient. As Steamy Kitchen recommends, use whatever seasoning you like, I had a jar of Italian Dressing Base which was my seasoning choice (and a very good choice!) when I roasted my garbanzos.
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
These are so yummy and nutty when they're crunchy (or even slightly crunchy). If you don't love chickpeas straight from the can, I would recommend trying this, it totally changes them.

How do you feel about beets? It seems to me that they're a love-'em/hate-'em kind of thing. I am the former. BIG TIME. I LOVE BEETS. Oh, how I love them. The color! The texture! The flavor! I should write a song about it, if I wrote songs. Which I don't.
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
These are beets my grandma pickled from last summer. Prizes for helping watch her dog while she and my grandpa were in Florida. I will always take fresh, canned or frozen vegetables for payment. Would anyone like to barter?

The dressing:
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
It's all about proportions. Just mix the amount of each ingredient (mustard, brown sugar, spices, a pinch of salt, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil) you like in a jar and shake it up.

I do prefer a mustard that looks like this rather than one that's bright yellow:
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
I used the same seasoning mix as I used for the roasted chickpeas because I didn't want the flavors to compete. I also made this right after I stuck the chickpeas in the oven so it would have time to dissolve the sugar and salt and rehydrate some of the herbs.

Assemble the salad in a bowl. Butter lettuce is my preference. I like equal parts chickpeas and beets and as much blue cheese as I can get in there. A light drizzle of dressing and BAM! It's eating time.
DSC_0453 copy.jpg
For me this is an entree salad, but if you're a meat lover some grilled steak would be delicious on this or next to it. Blue cheese and beets just beg for a beef accompaniment. Unless you don't eat beef, then they need nothing.

0 Comments make my heart happy :

Post a Comment