Have you ever taken a quick glance at a recipe and immediately said to yourself "There is no way I'm even going to try that, it looks WAY too complicated!" I do. All the time-which is why I rarely follow a formal recipe. It has become an increasingly bad habit of mine to just throw together whatever ingredients that I have laying around and see how it turns out. (which is usually edible but beyond boring!)
So, when my friend and next door neighbour, Betty, emailed me this recipe for us to make together, I took a look at the long list in front of me and immediately felt overwhelmed. THREE SETS of ingredients?!! Who has the time? the organization? (answer; anyone but me)
If we weren't doing this together,I would have sent a polite reply back and then filed this recipe with the rest on my computer "Recipes that I'm pretending I will make one day" But since Betty was helping me, and we had decided to split the shopping for ingredients, I was actually looking forward to making this.
As I like my almonds toasted, I did this a day or so earlier in my toaster oven (only takes a few minutes).
We got together, split up the tasks, and got down to it. What amazed both of us, was how quick and easy this was. Add a glass of red wine, good conversation and we seemed to be finished almost as we got started!
Confession time: Most of these ingredients were things I had around anyway. Betty and I laughed how this recipe originally looked complicated yet was embarrassingly easy and quick when you just follow the steps.
Lesson learned: Long list of ingredients does NOT equal a high difficulty level, or even a required finesse in the kitchen.
Result:
The dried cranberries balanced out the lack of sweetness in the dressing. We both agreed that while the flavour of this salad was subtle, it had a real depth to it. Truly, the taste was the only complicated thing about the is recipe- and that is a good thing!
Pretty, isn't it?
Moroccan Roasted Chickpea Salad
For the
chickpea and marinade:
·
2
tablespoons Soy Sauce (certified Gluten Free if necessary)
·
2
teaspoons Honey·
2
teaspoons Cinnamon
·
2 teaspoons
Paprika·
2
teaspoons Cumin
·
2
tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil·
1/2
Lemon, juiced
·
Pinch of
black pepper·
3 cups
cooked Chickpeas
For the
salad:
·
5 cups
Spinach leaves·
1 large
Sweet Potato, cubed
·
1/2 cup
chopped Almonds
1/3 cup
dried cranberries
·
5 oz goat
cheese, crumbled (substitute your favourite vegan cheese-or just leave it out!)
For the
lemon vinaigrette:
·
1/2
Lemon, juiced·
3
tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
·
1 tablespoon
Olive Oil·
Pinch of
salt and black pepper
Directions
Preheat
the oven to 400F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or foil.
In a
large bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the marinade and whisk until
combined. Add the chickpeas to the bowl and toss to combine. Pour the chickpeas
onto a baking sheet and let sit for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile,
place the cubed sweet potato on a baking sheet and drizzle with about 1
tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Toss to coat.
Place
both baking sheets in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes until the
chickpeas are slightly brown and crispy and the potato is slightly brown and
cooked through.
To
assemble the salad, place the spinach onto a large serving plate or bowl, layer
on the potatoes and chickpeas, then sprinkle the almonds, cranberries and goat
cheese over the top.
In a
small bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients and pour over the
salad. Serve and enjoy!
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