Apple and Pear Chickpea Salad
This recipe serves two and is a delightful mix of flavors and textures. You'll need fennel seeds, olive oil, garlic, a leek, a can of chickpeas, dried pear, apple cider vinegar, almonds, and half a Pink Lady apple. Begin by toasting the fennel seeds in a pan. Then, add olive oil and garlic, cooking it softly to keep away from burning. Next, the leek goes in until it's soft. Warm up the chickpeas right in the pan. The fun part is tossing everything with slices of dried pear, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and then adding a dressing of olive oil and vinegar. Finish it off by sprinkling toasted almonds and thin apple slivers on top.
- 1 tablespoon Fennel seeds
- 4 tablespoons Olive oil
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Leek, cut in half lengthways
- 1 x 400 gram Tin of chickpeas, rinsed
- 3 tablespoons Dried pear
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Almonds
- ½ Pink Lady Apple
- Sea Salt
- Toasting the Fennel Seeds
Start by placing a frying pan over medium heat. Add the fennel seeds to the pan and toast them for one minute, stirring sometimes to stop burning.
- Sautéing Garlic and Cooking Leek
Next, pour half of the olive oil into the pan along with the thinly sliced garlic cloves. Lower the heat to ensure the garlic does not scorch, and sauté for 2 minutes. After sautéing the garlic, add the sliced leek to the pan. Cook the leek for 8-10 minutes or until it becomes soft and tender. Once the leek is cooked, add the rinsed chickpeas to the pan, stirring them through to warm up.
- Tossing and Seasoning
After warming the chickpeas, toss the contents of the pan with the finely sliced dried pear. Season the mixture with sea salt and also freshly ground black pepper to taste. Dress the salad with the remaining olive oil and apple cider vinegar, makes sure that everything is evenly coated. To complete the salad, sprinkle the top with toasted and chopped almonds along with very thin slivers of Pink Lady apple.
