roasted broccoli and chickpea salad
This salad is nothing special, really. It doesn’t require any unusual ingredients, fancy equipment, or more than 30 minutes of your time. I pulled it together today while heavily caffeinated (read: jittery), in between rounds of practice GRE questions (side note: fun/frustrating because I get to review algebra and geometry from over half a lifetime ago). I am a huge fan of roasted broccoli, because it has a nutty-ish flavor that steamed, boiled, or sauteed broccoli does not.
For anyone whose New Year’s resolution is to cook at home more and/or eat healthier and less meaty food, this is kind of a nice option, yes? You can embellish it with herbs, olives, nuts, other vegetables, leftover chicken, or pretty much whatever you want. You can have it as a side dish with something, or mix it with pasta. It’s good warm, cold, or at room temperature. You could double this recipe to make a whole bunch of food for future meals. And it’s cheap; the ingredients below cost no more than $3 total. Really, it’s nothing special.
2 heads of broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks
2 medium carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 sundried tomato halves, minced (optional)
1/2 can chickpeas (or more, if you want)
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
a few tablespoons of olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange broccoli and carrots on a large baking sheet. I usually toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper right on the pan, but you could also do this in a separate bowl. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
In a medium bowl, combine onion, sundried tomato, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and olive oil. When vegetables are done roasting, add to dressing, along with chickpeas. Toss to coat.
