When greens are your friend: just add feta and chickpeas

April 17, 2011

tags: capsicum, caramelised onion, chickpea, feta, pea, pepper

I made this warm salad/stir fry mash up a little more complicated than necessary.

Not to say it wasn’t delicious. However, I think my opinion on the existing salad is going to be a bit biased, given my fawning adoration of mushrooms and broccoli. The thing is, next time I will be stripping it down to the bare, essential elements (you’re free to disagree with me here): feta, chickpeas, caramelised onions, peas and peppers, next time red. Or if I wanted to keep things cool and green, cucumber instead of the red pepper, so the salad still has crunch. The lemon mustard dressing is staying though.

The soft, rich chickpeas work amazingly well with the tangy feta, and of course the caramelised onion helps. If you’re wary of how salty feta is, this salad will work for you, since there’s only a tiny bit and it’s chopped up super small, lending background deliciousness. The peas and peppers are a nice sweet foil for the salty feta and chickpeas. If you want to roast the red peppers, mmmm…go ahead, although you will want to add some crunch – you could either replace the peas with, or add, little cubes of cucumber.

PS. Have been feeling super uninspired since my last mediocre baking thing (which is so hard to finish…sigh). So, sorry for the crappy photo. Also didn’t help that I made the world’s best roast garlic roast potatoes and just wanted to put them in my face asap. It really is a lovely salad though.

Chickpea and feta salad

a guide – make as much or as little as you like. If you’re using lots of salad-y ingredients, it’s awesome the next day

cooked chickpeas, drained (and rinsed if using canned)
half as much feta as chickpeas, finely chopped/crumbled
onions, finely chopped and caramelised*
red or green peppers, chopped into squares
green peas or cubed cucumber**
optional: stir fried broccoli and well seared mushrooms

* I’m too lazy to go the slow and low route, so I start on a high heat to hurry things along, then reduce the heat to medium low and cover, stirring every now and then until browned

** In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the peas to the onions and cover.

Toss everything together, then drizzle over…