Smashed Chickpea and Veggie Salad

Portable Protein!

I've been thinking about this spread since last week, when I made something similar for a client.  I used my basic egg salad recipe, but swapped out smashed chickpeas for the hard boiled eggs.  Mayo, yellow mustard, chopped celery, green onion, salt and pepper.  Simple, easy, classic and delicious.

I have been busy all morning, researching recipes and working on client menus.  My senses have been inundated with visions and thoughts of beautiful food for a couple of hours, and let me tell you, this makes a girl pretty hungry.  I needed something, filling, fast and easily edible with one hand.  This was the perfect opportunity to make myself the chickpea salad I had been craving since last week.  I decided to tweak the recipe a bit with some ingredients that I had on hand.  Fresh parsley helps to bring some life to the canned chickpeas.  Minced carrot adds some nice color and crunch.  Lemon zest and juice to brighten the flavor and add moisture to the mixture, in an effort to reduce the amount of mayonnaise needed.  Lastly, I added a couple of teaspoons of sweet and dill relish, for some extra tang.

The potato masher is one of my favorite kitchen tools and it goes way beyond potatoes!

This jazzed up version of smashed chickpea salad, did not disappoint.  It comes together in a snap and provides a great opportunity to work on some knife skills as well as chance to take out any pent up aggression whilst smashing the chickpeas.  Educational and therapeutic!

Fresh parsley, scallion, lemon, celery and carrot, finely minced.  It's always a good time to practice your knife skills!

So, now, lets talk about mayonnaise.  I am a tried and true Duke's fan, it's what my grandmother used and what is always in my refrigerator, but, Duke's is not available at the Whole Foods market where I do the majority of my client shopping.  As a result, I have been experimenting with some of the different mayo's available there.  I stumbled up Sir Kensington's a couple of months ago, and let me tell you, I have been having some seriously debaucherous thoughts about this gentleman, errr mayonnaise.  Perhaps it's his jaunty monocle and spiffy top hat that get me hot and bothered, or just the plain fact that this is some seriously tasty mayonnaise.  Whatever it is, I have been dreaming of slathering this creamy delicacy on everything for the past few weeks.

I may lose my southern card, but I am loving this mayonnaise right now. And plus, Sir Kensington is super cute ;0)

Today, I ate my smashed chickpea salad, sandwiched between two slices of toasted 100% whole wheat bread.  My tummy is happy and satisfied and my brain is ready to get back to work.  Until next time, always remember to make every plate something to be passionate about!

The finished product

Ingredients:

• 1 15.5 oz. can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 rib celery, minced
• 1 scallion, minced
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 small carrot, minced
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tablespoons, mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 2 teaspoons dill relish
• 2 teaspoons, sweet relish
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1- Place chickpeas in a medium bowl and mash with a potato masher, until creamy, with a few chunks remaining.
2- Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.