It's been the week of the chickpea here at the makeshift kitchen. Several days ago I cooked up a huge batch with no real plan for them, but it's been nice to have cooked beans on hand to use as I wish (and with which to make yet more Chickpea Cutlets). I just cooked an even larger batch of aduki/adzuki/azuki beans, so stay tuned as I explore their manifold uses.
Anyway, this slaw thing just sort of came to me after I shredded a bit of beet for a variation on the house salad the other day. I love beets in all forms, but I have to say I haven't done a lot of raw beet goodness apart from the occasional trip to a juice bar (my favorite: carrot apple beet juice with lots of ginger). This recipe totally remedies that situation. It also made use of an old-ass apple I had in the fridge. You know that one apple? It's gotten a little too wrinkly to eat as a snack, but you only have one of them, so you don't want to make applesauce? Here's one way to use that apple.
Carrot Apple Beet Slaw with Chickpeas
Mix up a vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
a healthy plop of dijon mustard
a few squirts of Braggs Liquid Aminos (or plain old soy sauce)
1/2 tsp of thyme
1/2 tsp basil
Whisk together in a medium bowl and add 2 cups cooked chickpeas. Let that all mellow together and work on your veggies.
2 large carrots, grated
1 medium beet, grated
(Note: I just scrubbed the veggies really well instead of peeling. They're organic and there's good stuff in the skin, you dig?)
1 apple, peeled and grated
1 rib celery, chopped, including the leafy bits, why not?
1 scallion, chopped
Mix it all together with the vinaigrettey chickpeas, add salt if you need it, and garnish with black pepper and pumpkin or sunflower seeds or serve over lettuce.
The title of this post pretty much gives it all away, but I'll write out the "recipe" for this salad anyway. It's become a staple at our house because it is so simple, delicious, fresh, and easy to put together.
Salad!
Half a bag of arugula or mixed greens that include arugula (though this is also very good with spinach)
A smallish carrot, grated or better yet, shaved with your peeler until there is nothing left but a pile of carrot curls
A diced crunchy apple, like honeycrisp (our favorite) or granny smith
A handful of pumpkin seeds
For the dressing, whisk together a few tablespoons of olive oil or a mix of flaxseed and olive oils, a tablespoon or so of apple cider vinegar, a dash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, and a squirt of Dijon mustard. It's also good with just the oil and vinegar, or with lemon instead of mustard, or with a squirt of agave nectar.
Toss it all together and serve it up.
Serves two enthusiastic eaters of salad, or one verrry hungry person who wants to make a meal of salad, or maybe three less enthusiastic eaters of salad.
It's not really a salad.
You need:
Chopped up snickers bars
Cored and diced granny smith apples
Cool Whip
Mix it up and serve to young and old alike.
Even making it is fun!
