Winter
Salads and Vegetables
Warm Salad of Chard & Chickpeas
This chard and chickpea salad is an ideal vegetarian main or side dish.
The recipe calls for tahini, a sesame seed paste that is used a lot in Middle Eastern cooking, and it makes a wonderful creamy sauce for this chard and chickpea salad. Although the dish is lovely warm, it can also be eaten at room temperature and is delicious the following day as the flavours continue to develop overnight.
Serves 4.
This recipe is taken from my first cookbook, In One Pot: Fresh Recipes for Every Occasion, W&N, 2013.
Photo courtesy of Simon Wheeler.
Ingredients
- 300g chard, tough stalks removed
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cubed
- 4 celery stalks, cut into 2cm slices
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 tin (400g) cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp tahini paste
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 90 ml water
- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the chard stalks and blanch for 2 minutes. Then add the leaves and cook for a further 1 minutes. Drain and roughly chop, then set aside.
- Return the pan to a low heat and add the oil. Add the carrots and celery with a good pinch of salt and gently fry for about 5 minutes so they begin to soften and colour slightly. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a further couple of minutes.
- Stir in the chickpeas and season well with the salt and pepper. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes to allow the flavours to combine. takeoff the heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the tahini, lemon juice, water and olive oil until you have a smooth sauce. Add the tahini sauce to the chickpea mixture along with the chopped chard and the parsley. Stir together gently to mix, and serve.
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