Embracing Chaos

Since my old recipe blog seems to have crashed, I guess I’ll post a recipe here.  (Really what do I expect leaving a server in a friend’s laundry room?  We all know computers love warm moist environments.)

I developed this salad as a way to avoid junk food when my evenings are booked solid with business school.  It’s really good for you — lots of veggies, protein, complex carbs and monounsaturated fats — and it’s made almost entirely from non-perishables that you can keep in your pantries.  In fact the version that has none of the fresh ingredients is a fantastic yummy meal — sometimes I’ll throw in marinated artichoke hearts or marinated mushrooms if I have nothing fresh.  It also means I can stop by the store on the way home, pick up an avocado and a cucumber and have a quick tasty dinner.

Reggae Salad

• 2 cans (14oz) garbanzo beans (I really prefer non-organic to be honest.  Organic beans always seem soft and mushy.)
• 6 oz sun dried tomatoes (julienned, oil packed)
• 1 ripe avocado, chunked
• 1 oz fresh basil, chopped
• 3 oz pine nuts
• 1 cucumber, peeled and cubed
• 1-3 T good olive oil (to taste)
• 2-3 T good balsamic vinegar (to taste)
• Touch of hot sauce (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Including some of the oil from the tomatoes gives it a nice flavor too.  Serve.  Yum!  If you do it right, you’ll see where the name comes from.

Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 as a meal.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 2:50 PM and is filed under Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.