Artichoke & Chickpea Salad

Oh.My.Goodness.This.Is.So.Yummy.

Golden chickpeas with a slightly sweet flavor, rich artichoke hearts, and a hint of lemon. It's like a nutty lemony bowl of goodness. I serve it over a bed of fresh greens without any dressing, and it makes for one kick-ass lunch. Or, actually, 2-3 kick-ass lunches.


This takes almost no time to make, and yet is amazingly good. Definitely going to be an easy staple dish added to my repertoire to impress family and friends at how awesome and non-boring simple vegan food can be.

Recipe adapted from the Golden Chickpea and Artichoke Salad in Vegan Yum Yum (Lauren Ulm hits a home run again. Seriously, this book rocks).
Makes enough for 2-3 salads.

Ingredients:

• 1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (I used a 6.5 oz jar of quartered marinated ones) - or 5-7 artichoke hearts 
• 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp olive oil (your preference- I think it's fine with the lesser amount of oil)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Sea salt
• 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• ~1-2 cups baby spinach and/or arugula mix.

Steps:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet or saute pan. Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas. Add the chickpeas to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring periodically, until the chickpeas are golden brown all around. They make a fun little popping sound as they are cooking ;-) Just don't let them burn.
2. Transfer the chickpeas to a bowl and use the same pan to heat the artichoke. If you're using marinated ones like I did, you can just put them in the pan; if not, add a little oil to the pan first. Cook about 5 minutes, until the artichoke is lightly browned. It's ok if the hearts fall apart a bit.
3. Slice the almonds. For added flavor, toast the almonds (optional; dish still tastes awesome without doing this). Chop the almonds into tiny bits, or use a food processor to coarsely grind them.
4. Add the artichoke hearts, almonds, and parsley to the bowl. Add in the lemon juice, and some sea salt to taste (and a little fresh ground pepper if you like). Toss/mix.
5. Divide the greens into single serving bowls and then add the chickpea & artichoke salad on top. Enjoy!

Notes:
This is ridiculously easy to make. It only takes about 20 minutes, and it works well warm or cold. I really like it on top of a baby arugula mix - the slight bitterness of the arugula goes well with the artichokes. While the original recipe doesn't call for jarred marinated artichoke hearts, I think they work really well here. Just stay away from canned or frozen artichoke hearts- the former tend to be overly processed and packed with sodium, while the latter tend to come out mushy.