What are your thoughts on salad? Boring? Yea, sometimes. I like to think of salads as a blank canvas to mix and match my favorite ingredients. I also love to use legumes as salad bases; lentils- yes, black beans- yes, and chickpeas- oh heck yes!

When I was thinking about what to pair the little beans with I knew exactly what I wanted. For Valentine’s day I sent my friend Jules a pasta recipe to use on her first go around with homemade pasta (Hi Jules) and I used that recipe as my inspiration here.

Chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, are full of protein and very versatile.

The lemon adds such a great citrus note to the creamy chickpeas. Definitely the superstar here.

Let’s get cooking!

Ingredients: 

1/2 pound dried chickpeas- soaked overnight, or one can, 2 cloves garlic- minced, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, 2 Tbsp toasted sunflower seeds, juice of 1 lemon, lemon zest, 2-4 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp olive oil.

Recipe:

In a sauté pan add the olive oil to heat, once warm add the garlic and red pepper flakes and allow to bloom for about 30 seconds, add the chickpeas and sunflower seeds to the pan, add lemon juice and cook for about 4-5 minutes, add the spinach and lemon zest to the pan and allow the spinach to wilt then add the parmesan and plate with a touch of zest and parm on top.

Happy eating!