Simone, the woman behind JungleFrog Cooking, is one of the people I'd love to meet in real life. Who knows if it will ever happen? I live in the States, she lives in Netherlands.
I've "known" Simone for a few years now and am always amazed at the gorgeous photographs on her blog, her willingness to answer questions and her kind comments.
When a few weeks ago I saw Simone post a photo of what looked like a salad with chickpeas, tomatoes and feta, I knew I would be making it very soon.
Simone's recipe for Griddled Courgette Carpaccio with Chickpea Salad is based on a recipe by Anjum Anand. I have made a few minor changes, and will post my ingredients and directions below.
Chickpea Salad with Feta and Tomatoes
Ingredients
5 yellow zucchini, sliced on diagonal about 1/4" thickness
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup feta
1/4 red onion chopped finely
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
dressing
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 small garlic clove
15 pistachios
2.5 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon peppers
pinch of sugar
2 teaspoons of water
Directions
1. Preheat your panini grill and brush it with oil. Add zucchini slices and grill them till you get nice marks. If you don't have a panini maker, broil your zucchini or saute in a pan.
2. Combine chickpeas, tomatoes, cilantro, feta, red onion, cumin seeds and lemon juice.
3. In a food processor, puree all of the dressing ingredients.
4. Use some of the dressing to flavor the chickpea salad (use the rest for other salads).
5. Arrange grilled zucchini slices on a plate and add the chickpea, tomato & feta salad in the middle.
What can I say? I love chickpeas, tomatoes and feta and have used them in salads before. The dressing was a bit thinner than I expected, but had a lot of flavor; plus, I love anything with pistachios. My friend Jenn and I both enjoyed this salad followed by a slice of Turtle Tart: it's all about balance, right?
If you don't eat tomatoes out of the season, save this recipe and make it next year. Or you can safely use good quality canned tomatoes.
If you could meet a few food bloggers, who would they be?
Mmm mm! Looks so fresh & yummy :]
ReplyDeleteIsn't it cool that we live in a time where we can "meet" people all over the world that we'd never run into otherwise? Do u know, that is exactly how I met my Mr P?
ReplyDeleteLovely salad, it sounds very fresh and yummy. I really like Anjum Anand. I have several of her books.
*kisses* HH
I love the color of the wood! Next time you're in Seattle, we're going to GoodWill and Value Village to shop for forks and spoon props!
ReplyDeleteBesides the chickpeas, I love it! And the presentation is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI totally love meeting people 'over the internet'. I would never have known you otherwise! And you never know we might meet one day in real life (I think it will happen!) I've met a couple of bloggers already in person and I am always surprised at the immediate connection we seem to have as we 'know' eachother through digital media..
ReplyDeleteLove that you made the chickpea salsa Olga and it looks great too!
This recipe looks wonderful. I'm really craving savory/salty food after overdosing on Halloween Candy in the last week. Love that you use the panini grill for it. I really need to justify buying one. I don't use it nearly enough.
ReplyDelete