Once it warms up a little bit, even for false spring, I crave a lighter feel to my meals, which means salads. And not the same garden salad with vintage cheddar, croutons, and Italian dressing I normally love, but something fresher and newer.

That means it’s time to experiment, which is where this dilly-chickpea-fet combo came from. I saw a rough outline of it on an Instagram post and decided to recreate it and measure out the dressing ingredients at least.

When it comes to measuring out the salad components, I do list approximate amounts below for two salads, but use your taste and judgement for the final product. For example, Patrick likes a ton more cheese on his salads, whereas I like more of the crunchy components.

Ingredient Taste test

And that brings me to an important thing to remember when making salads. Taste your ingredients as you’re adding them. I acquired this fantastic goats milk feta cheese from Three Graces Dairy on a recent cheese run to Greenville, and it was a lot saltier than I realized. Luckily I forgot to salt the salad greens, otherwise this could have been a bit too salty to enjoy!

So don’t make my mistake, snack on your ingredients as you prep and chop them, keeping food safety and stuff in mind. This particular evening I was making salads for Patrick and myself, so sneaking tastes wasn’t off the table.

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Dillicious Feta and Roasted Chickpea Salad

Course Salad

Keyword chickpeas, feta, lettuce

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 30

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

Dill Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (an extra teaspoon if you like it tangier)
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried or fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

Salad

1 head romaine lettuce thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
2 mini cucumbers diced
1-2 scallions finely chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles to taste
1 teaspoon fresh or dried dill to taste
1 handful roasted chickpeas (as much or little as you want)

Instructions

If you don't have roasted chickpeas on hand: Preheat your oven to 425 F. Drain a can of chickpeas and use a paper towel to pat dry. Toss the dry chickpeas in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then a sprinkle of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika, or your preferred spice combo. Pour in a single layer onto a parchment sheet lined baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, then agitate the chickpeas and bake for 15-20 more minutes. Watch them closely the las5 5 minutes so they don't burn. Set aside to cool and snack on a few.
In a jar with a tight fitting lid, shake all of the dressing ingredients together unti emulsified.
Into two bowls, divide the lettuce, parsley, cucumbers, feta, scallions, dill, chickpeas. You don't need to be exact with these ingredients and can scale up or down to your preferences.
Dress the salad when you'r ready to eat and serve immediately.

There’s not too much to say about this salad, so give it a try if you like dill, feta, and roasted chickpeas. One cup of chickpeas has 10.7 grams of protein and 9.6 grams of fiber. If you, like myself, are looking to really up your fiber intake after the sad colon cancer-related passing of James van der Beek, chickpeas are a great place to start. In fact, roast two cans of chickpeas at the same time and snack on the ones that aren’t eaten in the salad.