Italian Rainbow Chickpea Salad

A Super Easy Summer Salad

There’s nothing quite like a special lunch with a friend. I love to have friends over. Recently, I have a new thing I’m doing. I’m inviting friends to cook with me. We stream the experience live while we laugh, throw together ingredients and taste test the dish. There’s such a sense of fun about the whole experience. And that’s what I love for my friends to experience when they come to lunch.

I’ll be honest with you, my back porch probably has lots of dirt of on from repotting a new plant. My kitchen floor probably hasn’t been mopped in a week or so. You will most likely find mismatched napkins on my nicked kitchen table. And none of that is really important. What’s important is the love between friends, the connection found in the conversation and the food we share. 

This week I had a great time chatting and cooking with my friend Joie Gharrity. She had me on her show this week to share a quick recipe. And while we weren’t in the same room, we did find amazing connection in the conversation, which was centered around food. 

We made this delicious quinoa and chickpea salad. I made the quinoa ahead of time, making this such a super quick and simple salad. I used 1 cup of cooked quinoa along with quickpeas, and bell peppers. If I’m being honest here, I was planning on using cherry tomatoes, but when I checked them this morning they looked sad. As it turns out, I love the bell pepper in this salad. It provides great texture and good crunch. 

What is great about this recipe is that you can use whatever you have on hand. I thought I had some salami (that I had planned on cutting into thin strips). Nope, turns out I had prosciutto. 

Many times we get so focused on the exact recipe that we don’t think about the options we have by using what’s already in our fridge. 

What’s the important part of the recipe? Sharing it with a friend. Make your own version of this recipe with a friend this week. And don’t forget about the good conversation. 

Italian Rainbow Chickpea Salad
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Italian Rainbow Chickpea Salad

Recipe by Victoria
0.0 from 0 votes
Course: SidesCuisine: Italian, MediterraneanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

2

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Cooked Quinoa

  • 1 Can Rinsed Chickpeas

  • 2 Bell Peppers (1 orange and 1 red)

  • Small mozzarella balls or mozzarella cut into small cubes

  • Proscuitto

  • Ingredients for Dressing

  • 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil

  • 1 Tbsp Vinegar (red wine, white wine or fruit flavored)

  • 1-2 tsp mustard

  • 2 tsp honey, agave or sugar

Directions

  • Cook the quinoa. You can do this the day before and refrigerate.
  • Chop the bell peppers into bite sized pieces
  • Chop mozerella into bite sized pieces if necessary
  • In a medium bowl add quinoa, chickpeas, mozzarella, and bell peppers. If you have other ingredients such as cherry tomatoes you can add those, too.
  • To make the dressing add olive oil, vinegar, sweetner and mustard to a small bowl. Mix well and taste. If it tastes too tart, add more sweetener. If it tastes bland, add a touch more viengar. Continue taste-testing until your dressing tastes perfect.
  • Put the dressing in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Mix the ingredients together, making sure all of the ingreidents in the bowl are coated with the dressing.

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