Circle B Kitchen
While this is mostly a recipe about scrumptious roasted shrimp and fresh Mediterranean ingredients, it's also about "fresh chickpeas (or garbanzo beans). I've only recently discovered how much better they are when cooked up from their dried form. They have a richer chickpea flavor and are more tender than canned. Of course you can most certainly use canned chickpeas in this salad and it will still be delicious. But I hope you'll try cooking up your own batch of fresh chickpeas (instructions are at the bottom of the recipe). Go ahead and cook up the whole bag, the leftovers make awesome hummus.
½ lb raw medium-sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups cooked chickpeas (see headnote)
1 ½ cups of sliced artichoke hearts
2/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
2/3 cup sliced kalamata olives
2 or 3 sliced green onions
5 or 6 asparagus spears
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley for serving
Dressing:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place an oven rack near the top of the oven. Place the shrimp on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the shrimp for about 5-6 minutes or until just turning pink. Do not overcook. Set aside to cool.
In a medium-sized skillet, bring a couple of inches of salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the asparagus spears. Simmer the asparagus for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, rinse with cool water and slice into 2-inch lengths.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside.
In a large-ish bowl, combine the salad ingredients including the shrimp and sliced asparagus. Drizzle with the dressing, using only as much as you need to lightly coat the salad. Taste for salt before serving.
To serve, line a serving platter with leaves of romaine lettuce and place the salad in the center of the platter. Sprinkle the salad with the chopped parsley. If desired, scoop bites of the salad onto the lettuce leaves.
To cook up your own chickpeas:
For a one-pound bag, which makes about 6 cups of cooked chickpeas...
The night before you plan to cook them, place them in a bowl with about 4-6 cups of water and let them soak overnight.
In the morning, drain the beans, rinse them, and place them in a heavy pot with 3-4 cups of water. Bring them to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium simmer, partially cover the pot and let the cook for about an hour and fifteen minutes. About 45 minutes into the cooking time, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt to the water. Stir and continue cooking. After they've been cooking an hour and fifteen minutes, test one or two of the beans and if they're soft, drain them and let them cool. If they still have a bit of bite to them, continue cooking until they're soft and yielding. You can use them right away or store them in the refrigerator for up to a week. I have also frozen them at this point which works great too for longer storage.