Chickpea salad with reverse vinaigrette
A little oil and a lot of vinegar brings stodgy garbanzos to life in this chickpea salad. Adapted from Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens, by far the best of the three Greens cookbooks. 4 servings.
Ingredients:
15-oz can garbanzo beans, drained (or equivalent amount of dried beans that have been soaked overnight and cooked till tender)
1/4 c finely chopped red onion
Splash of white wine/champagne vinegar
2 T sundried tomato, finely chopped (if it actually is dry rather than packed in oil, reconstitute by soaking in hot water first)
small garlic clove, finely chopped
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T good olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 T chopped parsley
Method: Bring a small amount of water to boil, drop in the onion, turn off heat. Allow to steep one minute, drain. Mix in a splash of white wine/champagne vinegar then drain again. (This is a signature Annie Somerville technique. It fixes the red color while taking some of the bite out of the onion. You could just use chopped raw onions, of course, but it might throw off the flavor balance.) Add to the beans with all the other ingredients except parsley, marinate at least 1 hour. Serve at room temperature, adding parsley at the end.
Note: this recipe is simplified to use a can of garbanzos, but you will get better results if you prepare your own garbanzos from dry. Soak overnight, drain and add clear water along with a bay leaf and a generous pinch each of sage and marjoram (or sprigs of fresh herbs). Simmer one hour or until just tender.
