Baby Kale with Toasted Chickpeas Salad

I’m beginning to realize that I’m a total food nerd.  I love learning about ways to cook food; to combine flavors; the best techniques to get the most out of ingredients.  My little Moleskine books read like a scientist’s lab notes.  If I could doodle, there would likely be some in the margins of the dog-eared pages.

My little Zen shrine

And…the playlist is back.  Click here to listen to it.

This year I discovered kale–I know…so last year’s superfood, huh?  But really–I can’t get enough.  The obvious preparation is to saute with garlic and lemon, which I did and enjoyed.

Then I made kale chips.  And that was my very first post on this blog…almost 2 years ago.

And then I did more research on the stuff and wrote a somewhat preachy rant about kale.

Needless to say, I am loving fresh kale.  As a hearty salad.  It’s so filling, easy to make, and just makes you feel so healthy.  The big trick to preparing kale (in my opinion) is to remove the leaves from the rib.  The rib can be tough and chewy and sometimes take away from the pure pleasure of leafy goodness.  So just remove the kale from the rib.  Cut up the kale and massage those leaves.  I really believe that sprinkling with some salt and then massaging the kale and letting it sit for about an hour basically tenderizes the leaves so that you don’t need to cook them.

So that’s how the kale process starts.  From there, delicious salad combos ensue.  Like this one with ingredients that were in season at my local farmers market:

 I found lovely baby kale leaves at the market last week and created a salad using these leaves, but you could also use the Tuscan kale.  Because these were baby kale leaves, I didn’t think they needed the ‘tenderizing’ treatment and used them as I would any other hearty green.  I bet this would be equally delicious with baby romaine.

So, now that I’ve been converted to kale, and eat it at least once a week, I thought I could add another ‘superfood’ to my repertoire–beans.  I have really never prepared beans–I only knew them as canned items, so when I committed myself to purchasing only local, in season products; the beans got lost in the shuffle.  Then my friend told me that those BPA’s that I’d been trying to avoid in plastics were also found in canned foods.  Which pretty much put beans on my do not eat list.  That is, until I found a great recipe for falafel on food52.com that called for dried garbanzo beans–and after trying the recipe (now my go-to falafel recipe), learned how to soak the dried beans and estimate the amount to use.  It may seem like common sense, but I just didn’t know.  Now I do.  And I just soak beans over the weekend, and portion them out in baggies and freeze them until I want to use them during the week.

The same friend suggested doing ‘Meat Monday’; eating meat only on Mondays and substituting beans for proteins the remaining of the week.  That could be my new years resolution.  Because, as the food nerd, that I am–I looked up the benefits of garbanzo beans:

1.  Lowers cholesterol and has a high fiber content (which helps to make you feel full faster and helps rid the body of toxins).

2.  Better than carbs in providing energy.

3.  A good source of iron and folic acid (great for my pregnant friends and those of you who aren’t can benefit too).

I wanted to add garbanzos to my salad, but wanted the crunch that the almonds provided in the first salad, so I decided to roast them–which by the way; I think are also a yummy snack–better than potato chips!

Tandoori Toasted Chickpeas

You could probably just toast chickpeas the same way you roast vegetables–with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, but I thought I’d add a little Middle Eastern flavor to these beans.  I start by making a tandoori spice blend.  This recipe makes about 1/4 cup that you can save and use to spice up other roasted vegetables such as cauliflower or meats like lamb or goat.

And because I had some time on my hands did a quick pickle on some red onions by simmering thinly sliced red onion in vinegar and a bit of sugar.

Finally the dressing, which is a Tahini dressing made with some preserved Meyer lemons I made earlier this Spring.  I know, food NERD Alert!

So, basically, the salad is baby kale, toasted chickpeas, red onion, sliced persimmons, and pecorino cheese with a tahini dressing.  I know its not a ‘throw it together’ kind of salad, but you can prepare the chickpeas and dressing ahead of time and suddenly, it is a quick and simple healthy salad.  Oh, and did I mention how nutritious tahini is–its the inside of sesame seeds–loaded with Vitamin B and Calcium.

Roasted Vegetables

Another super great make-ahead time saver–roast vegetables over the weekend.  Maybe while you’re braising/roasting that Sunday night supper.   Then they’re ready for you during the week–as a meaty addition to greens, a side, with pasta or a pizza topping.  Endless options and combinations of delicious goodness.