Toasted Chickpea and Apricot Salad
Plums are also delicious—and beautiful—in place of apricots.
Plums are also delicious—and beautiful—in place of apricots.
Reading the reviews got me googling roasted chickpeas and I found out that the time here is just way too short to get a crispy chickpea. Followed directions on another site with great results: drain and rinse chickpeas and blot dry. Spread on a cookie sheet and let sit on counter for an hour. Then put in 400 degree oven for a half hour, take out and mix with the oil and spices, and then put back in the oven for 10 minutes. I got lovely, crunchy flavorful chickpeas, sort of like Cornnuts with a slightly chewy center. The salad was really delicious and filling. Served with a savory walnut bread and a glass of white wine for a dinner that was very satisfying.
Meh...I agree that in the time specified the chickpeas don't get very crispy. I like the overall combination though; so this would probably be better with some tweaking. I used plums and spinach as these were what I had on hand, and Vidalia onion for myself, none for the husband as he doesn't like them. Not sure what the orange rind adds. We'll finish up the leftovers (only tossed 2 servings' worth for now) but I don't know that I'd make this again.
After reading the reviews, it seemed the oven was not a good idea to try and crisp the chickpeas both because it didn't seem to crisp them and it also made a mess in the over. So, I tried it in a non-stick frying pan on the stove top with the lid slightly ajar. Seemed to do the job - chickpeas crisp - at least as much as chickpeas will be - and no oven mess.
Fantastic! My Fiance made this for dinner one night and followed the recipe exactly and it was really delicious! He's making it again this week!
This was delicious. I didn't have coriander so I left it out and I used rice wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar. I also used some baby spinach and spring greens instead of the arugula which I didn't have on hand. Next time I'll put more onion and more greens - but we all loved it!
I liked this, but like everyone else, I'm unclear what the texture of the chickpeas is supposed to be. It seemed like a lot of work to go to for warm, mushy chick peas. I might try this again without cooking the chick peas at all, just combining everything cold.
Really enjoyed this salad - all the different flavors in this recipe really came together nicely. Another CL success with simple ingredients and big flavor. I used canned chickpeas and they were chewy, not crunchy, and did not pop in the oven. Wonder which texture the recipe is trying to achieve?
This salad was tasty, and I love a chance to use the apricots that show up so fleetingly in our grocery store. However, I wish I had known that the chickpeas will pop like popcorn while toasting! I will need to clean out my oven once it cools down!
The salad was fantastic with all of the flavors together. The one thing I would do differently next time is the chick peas. I didn't love the toasted texture, so next time I will just skip toasting them.
The apricots added a new and exciting twist to the conventional salad and worked great with the citrus orange dressing. The pepper taste of the arugula also complimented the pepper in the dressing while the chickpeas added substance and additional flavor with their seasonings. My chickpeas were firm but not crunchy. I am uncertain whether this was the intention of the recipe or just my less than perfect oven.