Author Notes
The challenge: Make a salad that’s hearty enough to be a meal and delicious enough to be (shhh!) vegan. Mission impossible: accepted. —Grant Melton
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Ingredients
- For the dressing
-
1/2 cup
raw cashews
-
1/2 cup
water
-
1/3 cup
grape seed oil
-
1
lemon, zested and juiced (about 1/2 teaspoon zest and 3 tablespoons juice)
-
2 teaspoons
salt
-
1 teaspoon
chopped garlic (or 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic)
-
1/2 teaspoon
black pepper
-
1/4 cup
chopped parsley
-
1/4 cup
chopped chives
-
2 tablespoons
chopped dill
- For the salad
-
2 tablespoons
olive oil
-
two
15 1/2–ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-
1/4 cup
hot sauce (I prefer Frank's)
-
Salad greens, like baby kale
-
2
carrots, peeled and grated, or cut into matchsticks
-
4
stalks celery, thinly sliced on a bias
-
6
radishes, sliced
-
Celery leaves, for garnish
Directions
-
To make the dressing, place the raw cashews, water, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, garlic and pepper into a high-powered blender. Turn the blender on at its lowest speed and gradually increase its power until the blender is blending on high. Turn the blender off, scrape down the sides and repeat. At this point, you should have a smooth and creamy dressing. Add in the herbs and blend just to combine, just a few seconds. Pour the mixture into a jar and keep in the fridge until ready to use. The dressing is especially good a day or two after it’s made.
-
To make the salad, heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add in the chickpeas and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until they’re warmed through, about 5 minutes. Add in the hot sauce and toss to coat. Turn the heat to low and let cook for a few minutes more while you toss the salad.
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In a large bowl, toss together the salad greens, shredded carrots, celery and radishes. Pour the dressing over the salad. You’ll probably only need about half of it. Toss the salad to dress. Place the salad onto large salad bowls or onto dinner plates and top with a few spoonfuls of the warm chickpeas. Garnish with celery leaves.
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