My mom called me on Sunday to tell me she had made a tabouli salad and kindly saved some for me. If I hadn't been completely stuffed to the gills from Cookbook Club and the recipes from Falling Cloudberries, I would have picked up the keys and driven over because I love my mom's tabouli. However, this post is not about tabouli, it is about the fact that soon it will be outdoor potluck weather and soon we'll be wishing we had opted to make a salad instead of a casserole.
Let me tell you something else about tabouli - everyone loves tabouli, and thinks that they will be exotic and daring and make it for a potluck. Last year, I attended a summer solstice event at my parent's community garden where four tabouli salads turned up to feed twenty people. The same could be said for insalata caprese, its innocuous and frankly, not that exciting.
This week I made three different cold salads, ones that require minimal stovetop use and like most marinated things - tastes better the following day. While the weather has been unseasonably cool, you might as well plan ahead and try and tweak these recipes to your liking. Here is the first. I love this salad and have made it three times for different events. It is hearty and packed with protein. The parsely and cilantro give it a nice springy taste and the jalepeno, a bit of a kick. I have varied the types of feta cheese in this recipe. If you have picky eaters on your guest list, go for the milder varieties of feta.
Chickepea, Cilantro and Feta salad - adapted from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros
1 14 oz can of chickpeas, drained
1 small red onion, chopped finely
1/2 jalepeno pepper, cut in a fine mince, remove seeds if you want
2 cloves of garlic (the original recipe calls for five, this was plenty)
1/2 cup olive oil (yes, I said 1/2 cup, and that is an adjustment down from the 1 cup specified)
1 1/4 cup chopped parsely
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 to 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled (I used both light and the real stuff - both worked fine)
2 green onions chopped (white and light green parts)
1 lemon, juiced (I will admit to adding more than that, I like things tangy)
Directions:
Saute onion in 2 T olive oil until soft (7 minutes for me), add garlic and chopped jalepeno and cook until you can just start smelling the garlic (ca. 2 minutes), remove from heat and let mixture come to room temperature (Note: you could do this ahead of time if you were more prepared than me).
Assemble the rest of the salad while the onion mixture is cooling.
Place chickpeas, parsely, cilantro, green onions in a bowl. Add cooled onion mixture and mix to combine. Next add crumbled feta cheese to mixture and again, mix to combine. Lastly add remaining olive oil and lemon juice mixture until it is well distributed.
Season to taste - add more lemon if you want, add salt and pepper, but the feta is a salty cheese and you many not need to add any. Garnish with remaining parsely.
Refrigerate until served. This salad is delicious right out of the bowl or a few hours or days later.
Props to Maggim for allowing me to use her lovely picture. I could not do this salad justice.