So I am about to share with you one of my all time favorite recipes. Get excited. It is also one of the easiest recipes on the planet, which makes it even more awesome. If you have a decently stocked pantry, you probably have most of the ingredients already!

I’ve been following Molly Wizenberg on her delightful blog Orangette for a few years now so I was thrilled when I saw her article in the April 2011 issue of Bon Appetit! She shared a recipe that her fiance (now husband) created and needless to say, I was curious. It took me all of 2 minutes to run to my kitchen and make it and I’m not gonna lie, I tore through that bowl of salad in about 3 minutes flat. I was hooked. I made it every week for 4 weeks. I could probably eat this every day for thirty-thousand-hundred-million years and still not get tired of it.

All right, enough about how amazing it is, let’s get down to business!

First you want to gather your ingredients and maybe a tiny helper (mine’s a little furry)

Note: Let me warn you, the original recipe calls for 1 clove of garlic, but I always take whatever a recipe calls for and add 1-2 more cloves. I don’t care if it’s raw and I smell like a vampire slayer afterward, gimme my garlic!

Chick Salad

• 1 15oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1.5 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp evoo
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed (see note)
• 1/4-1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• sea salt

Now just dump the chickpeas, basil, lemon juice, evoo and garlic into a medium sized bowl and stir together.

Finish it off by stirring in the cheese and season it to taste with sea salt.

Voila! You’re done!

This is delicious right away but the flavors get even better if you let it sit for a few hours or even overnight! It’s great for picnics, packed lunches, traveling, etc.

So there you have it, my favorite recipe, adapted ever so slightly from this one!  There are a lot of variations you could try, like substituting lime for the lemon, adding sriracha sauce, or maybe some cucumber? Give it a try and let me know what you think!

xoxo

L