Roasted Chickpea Salad

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 11:32:53 GMT

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 400°F

Step 2

Open and drain one can of chickpeas, and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Step 3

Once the chickpeas are dry, add them to a bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 1.5 teaspoons of Cayenne powder and 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika. Do this step just before cooking.

Step 4

Once the chickpeas are thoroughly coated, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and place in the oven for 30 to 35 mins, rotating the tray, and shaking up the chickpeas midway. This is to ensure that they get crispy all around and don't stick to the parchment.

Step 5

While the chickpeas are roasting, prepare the veggies. Small dice 1 medium sized tomato. Cut 1 medium cucumber into half moons (you can choose to peel the skin beforehand if you like). Slice up your olives if you have whole olives. If using sliced olives from a jar, just drain them. Use as many olives as you like!

Step 6

For the dressing, squeeze out the juice of 1 large lemon, making sure to remove any seeds, add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt, fresh cracked black pepper to taste, 3/4th teaspoon of dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes (skip this if you don't like the heat). Feel free to adjust the quantities to your liking.

Step 7

Once the chickpeas are roasted and crispy, let it cool for 5 mins before assembling the salad. To your bowl add the chickpeas and the vegetables. Crumble ricotta cheese to your liking, I use about 1 & 1/2 tablespoons (you can substitute for feta cheese if you like, but then skip the lemon in the dressing as it may be too acidic). Pour your dressing on and toss well. The cheese will crumble and absorb the dressing, which makes it much more flavourful.

Step 8

Finally add croutons and garnish with chopped parsley. I sometimes substitute croutons for bruschette chips.

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