Rocket and Chickpeas

 

 My garden isn’t growing quite as well as it did last year.  So far the corn and the squash plants have died;  the parsley and chervil have sprouted but are still very small, and I’m sure that by this time last year my courgette plants were bigger than they currently are. 

On the bright side, I’m going to have lots and lots of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries this summer; my broadbeans and french beans (neither of which grew at all last year) are well established and my fruit trees are heavily laden with tiny plums and apples.  Plus, I definitely will not be stuck for salad leaves this year as lettuce, sorrel, spinach and rocket are all growing happily and abundantly.

Though the latter leaf could do with another week to reach full maturity, I couldn’t help but pick a small bunch of baby leaves for this simple salad.  The idea comes from Anna Del Conte’s Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes.  She recommends popping each chickpea out of it’s papery casing and makes a dressing out of warmed olive oil and briefly sautéed garlic.  Lazy bugger that I am, I left the chickpeas as they were and whisked together a lemony dressing instead.  No matter, it was nutty and fresh and delicious. 

Rocket and Chickpea Salad

400g chickpeas (from a can or cooked from dried)

Large handful of rocket

For the dressing:

1 very small garlic clove, crushed

Juice from 1/2 a lemon 

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning

• Whisk together the dressing ingredients.  Taste and add more lemon juice or oil if required.
• Gently combine the rocket and chickpeas.  Sprinkle over the dressing and, again, gently combine until the dressing lightly covers both ingredients.

 This is my entry for this month’s No Croutons Required event.