Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Summer Chickpea Salad for the I Heart Cooking Club plus a grilled-roasted chicken with wicked bevs!

Sweltering sizzling heat has set into the south with a vengeance. Seeing the theme of We Be Chillin at I Heart Cooking Club brought a smile to my face…..yes...nice cool dishes to nourish and please.



Summer Chickpea Salad from Jamie’s Dinners Cookbook.

Ingredients and Directions....

Slice one red onion (more or less to your taste)
Chop fresh chilies (Not for us since we are eating Tums like candy this week)
Chop two or three fresh tomatoes
Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons
Dollops of olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 can of chickpeas, drained
A handful of fresh mint, chopped
A handful of basil, shredded
8 ounces of feta cheese

Combine first five ingredients plus the salt and pepper in a serving bowl, stirring the juices and ingredients together gently.

Heat the chickpeas in a small saucepan. Once heated, tip ¾ of them into the bowl and mix well. Mash up the rest of the chickpeas and add those as well. Tear up your fresh herbs and add those with the feta cheese to your cool salad. Mouthwatering, scrumptious and delightful will come to mind with each bite!


Here it is without the feta (because my man mixed up a wicked aperitif to enjoy while I was preparing this…so the feta was forgotten)



Here it is with feta. (I had iced tea this evening)Not much difference in taste....loved the feta though!





Feta or not – great summer salad with so many distinctive tastes. Also pleasing was the fact that the tomatoes, mint and basil came from our little garden.



Doug roasted a chicken on his new grill and…well, I was speechless with the palatable pleasure of this bird. Look at it – all mahogany colored from roasting over wood chips, glistening with the smoked in olive oil rub.



The salad and the chicken were nice combos if you have the chance to try it.





As for the drinks……..please see details at Cocktail Puppy where I shared the thirst-quenching particulars HERE!

Good eating this night......

13 comments:

  1. I know that salad is good, but I cannot get enough of that bird - now that's some serious smoking.... and the meat looks so moist and tender - tell Doug I would fight him over a piece of that one... very nice job my Lord

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  2. We liked that salad too. But I'm with Drick...bring on the bird! Amazing!

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  3. Ooooooooooooh wow that chicken looks amazing - I would be too scared to have a go at cooking it myself but would be right at the front of the queue to eat. Chick pea salad lloks great - all those amazing flavours together ... yum, especially the burst of fresh herbs at the end! I have ribs marinating (a la your email) in the fridge and we're making plum and chilli chutney this afternoon!
    Mrs L

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  4. I've been adding feta to EVERYTHING lately so this sounds pretty delicious to me!

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  5. Oh my gosh..that chicken has to be the best looking chicken I've ever seen. So much color, it had to be wonderful!

    I love Jamie's chickpea salad and want to try and make it during our time with him. I ended up using chickpeas too this week!

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  6. This grill is the one to get....and Doug is having a ball using it.

    The chickpea salad was easy...and cool enough for the summer meals. I think it may be good for you too!

    Hey, Mrs. L - let me know how the ribs turn out, and I want to hear more about the plum & chilli chutney.

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  7. Wow. Great dinner! And that bird - stunning! If I was there, I would distract you and eat all the skin. ;-)

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  8. Oh Natashya.....I am usually a skin eater but this...yeah, I ate the skin!

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  9. The ribs are for tomorrow night - maple syrup is murderously expensive here so I am going to use local honey. Gonna marinate this afternoon - will take photos! The chutney didn't happpen yesterday - shopping for sourdough bread took over ... it was delicious with deli (charcuterie) pâté forestier(e)* at lunchtime - made with chanterelles ... YUM!
    Simon's playing golf today so I hear the pool calling my name - can you hear it too?
    Mrs L x

    *Let's not discuss the pain and just thank the drug company for ADVIL instead.

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  10. Dinner looks amazing! Big fan of chick pea salads, looks delicious.

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  11. I have been meaning to make this salad--I love anything chick pea and the feta is just icing on the cake. It looks perfect with that chicken.
    ;-)

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