Happy Little Stove

Sometimes you need an easy protein for a meal, and you don’t feel like futzing with meat. Canned beans are one of the simplest ways to do that. Ordinarily, I’m a fan of the dried bean, for convenience and simplicity, but they do take time to prepare, so if for whatever reason I don’t want to devote hours to that, the pantry is stocked with a few cans of beany happiness.

I love chickpeas. I love hummus, I love them roasted, and I love them in bean salad. As of tonight, I love them as the star of their own salad, backed up by capers and roasted red peppers.

The cast of characters: a can of chickpeas, capers, jarred roasted reds, olive oil, salt, lemon (for juice), and a really good parmesan cheese. (Eric would want me to point out that this parmesan is two years old, got from a wonderful Italian deli locally. Fabulous.)

I used the whole can of chickpeas, two tablespoons of capers, and about six of the little red peppers, chopped (they vary in size; the nutritional info here assumes about 90 grams of peppers). Make sure to drain and rinse those chickpeas and capers; it’s probably not a huge deal, but I don’t know what “disodium EDTA” is, and I don’t think the salad needs extra added.

To the veggies, add about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, a half a tablespoon of olive oil, and a dash of salt.

Say cheese – to the tune of about a quarter cup.

Then gently stir to combine all the ingredients…and that’s it! You can serve it right away, or, as I did, pop it in the fridge so it gets nice and chilled first.

Serves 6. Per serving – Fat: 3.5g; Carbohydrates: 16.1g; Calories:116.4; Protein: 5.4g.

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