Chickpea Salad with Cucumber, Feta, and Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 4

• 1 cucumber, peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/4-inch thick

• 2 french breakfast radishes, thinly sliced on the mandoline

• 1 tbsp chives, thinly sliced

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced into rounds

• 2 tomatoes, halved, cored, and cut into small pieces

• High-quality feta

• Sea salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 3 tbsp good olive oil

• 1/2 tsp honey (optional)

• Sea salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

For the chickpeas:

• 1 1/2 C dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in water, then drained

• 1 tbsp sea salt

• 1/2 C good olive oil

• 1 large carrot, peeled and halved

• 1 celery rib, halved

• 1 dried arbol chile

• 10 garlic cloves

• 1/2 yellow onion

Instructions

Place the chickpeas, salt, olive oil, carrot, celery, chili, garlic, and onion in a large stock pot. Cover with 1 1/2 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender and creamy. Once they are finished cooking, remove the chickpeas from the cooking mixture and set aside to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

In a small bowl, place the lemon juice, honey, sea salt, and black pepper. Whisk to combine. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl while whisking, until the dressing has emulsified. Taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place chickpeas, cucumber, radish, chives, tomatoes, and scallions in a large bowl. Drizzle with lemon vinaigrette, lightly coating the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Taste. Add more vinaigrette, salt, and pepper as necessary. To serve, scoop chickpea salad on a plate and top with a generous amount of crumbled feta. Finish with a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.