Warm Chickpea Salad with Arugula

I have a great find that I want to share with everyone, and thank you to Tessa for bringing your find to my attention. I'm officially hooked. Lately, I've been snacking on unsalted whole almonds and raisins as an afternoon snack. It is a healthy, protein based snack, which is just what the afternoon calls for sometimes. So, what do I want to share? It's all about the raisins. I'm not a big raisin fan in general. However, the jumbo raisin medley package from Trader Joe's will completely change your mind. 5 types of raisins. They are big. Not dried out. They are different colors. They taste so good. Head out to your local Trader Joe's to get a bag. You'll find them in the aisle at the front of the store with the other nuts and dried fruits. You won't be disappointed.

I've been on the hunt for a few new cookbooks. Sure. I have plenty of cookbooks on my bookshelf already, but none of them are strictly vegetarian related. And that is what I am hoping to change. I can find plenty of recipes on the Internet and now have a bookmarks folder strictly dedicated to vegetarian recipes, but there is just something I love about sitting on the couch with a cookbook and stack of post-it notes in hand, that just feels right. One of my favorite things to do in the summer months while at work, is to walk over to Borders on State Street during my lunch break and parooze the cookbook section, making lists of all possible cookbooks that might be of interest to me. It is one of the many perks of working right on Michigan Ave. I don't dare venture out of the office in the sub-zero temperatures of winter, so this is really a warm weather treat.

We had a few nice days last week, that I swear are just teasers for the up and down weather we are going to be having over the next two months, but I will take a few nice days in a week as opposed to zero nice days. I keep telling myself, the patio furniture at Starbucks will soon be out, and I'll be sipping coffee outdoors in the sun in no time. I had a gift card for Borders that I had gotten for Christmas, and had yet to use it (again, I'm don't venture out in the winter to run errands like this, everything can easily be found on Amazon in the winter). I had done some research online before heading out, and had narrowed down a few choices.

I ended up walking out of there with Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's a big one. 996 pages of anything and everything vegetarian related. I'm sure the book surpassed by 10 pound weight lifting limit, but it is so worth it. And I doubt I will be able to make absolutely everything in the book, but it highlights everything that I might want to make. As it sits on my table now, it easily has over 15 post-it notes sticking out of the pages, highlighting recipes that I'm going to be trying here in the near future. The book is very vegetable and grain focused, which I love.

Let's talk about this warm chickpea salad with arugula. It is from Bittman's cookbook. I think the word that made this recipe jump out at me was "warm". There is something tasty about warm chickpeas with wilted arugula. And throw in a light dressing of rice wine vinegar, honey, and olive oil? Call it a perfect match. The recipe comes together so very easily. I added to the recipe a bit, and threw in a couple sauteed vegetables: green peppers and yellow squash in this case. My goal is to make meals on the weekend that last for the entire week, so I tried to bulk up the ingredients in the recipe to make it go further.

The ginger and garlic that is sauteed at the beginning of this recipe is key. This is what gives the dish its flavor. Saute the vegetables, toss in the chickpeas (I just used can), and mix up the dressing with the arugula, and you have yourself a perfect meal. Andy and I both ate this for lunch through the week and didn't have any complaints. I'm actually making this salad again this week, because it was so tasty, and so simple to throw together.

Mark Bittman.....I think your new book and I might become very good friends.

Warm Chickpea Salad with Arugula

adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

print this recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1 yellow zucchini, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Handful cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt and pepper

3 cans chickpeas, drained

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

4 cups arugula leaves

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

4 hard cooked eggs, quartered (I didn't add these)

Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the ginger, garlic, and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant and the ginger are garlic are soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and green pepper. Saute until soft. Toss in the cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then stir in the chickpeas until hot and coated in the oil and seasonings, about 3 minutes more.

Remove from heat and with a fork, stir in the vinegar, honey and 1 tablespoon water. Mash a few of the chickpeas as you stir to add texture to the dressing. Put the arugula and red onion in a large bowl and toss with the warm chickpea dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with hard cooked eggs (if you are using them).