One jar down

I most definitely go through food crazes and in case you haven’t noticed…

The craze of the moment is chickpeas! It’s one which tends to come around quite often!

The latest of the chickpea recipes have included…

• Chickpea, Eggplant, Roasted Red Pepper and Fig salad
• Moroccan Chickpea Quinoa and Pinenut Salad

Along with the chickpea craze I’ve been showing my love for tahini over the past couple of weeks and I’ve made my way through a full jar….only one thing for it, buy another one!

This salad is jam packed with some of my top ingredients, butternut squash, chickpeas, spinach, tahini and sundried tomatoes!!!

I took a few snaps of it on my morning break in work and it took a whole heap of willpower to not dig in there and then (a few large mouthfuls nibbles were most definitely had!) It’s got it all…

Sweet melt in the mouth roasted squash (skin and all, I’m not in to peeling and I’d miss it if it wasn’t there!), creamy tahini dressing, salty soft sundried tomatoes, a hit of iron from the obligatory green in the form of wilted spinach and caramalised onion just because it works!

Nothing could distract my attentions from this lunch. Internet perusing, emails, online shopping, pinterest, catching up on my favourite bloggers posts… undivided attention was given. I pretty much died and went to heaven. The combination of the flavours and textures was positively awesome.

Every time I make something new, on the occasions that it turns out successfully, I have a tendency to proclaim it amazing, simply because I get so excited about new flavours and foods but I can honestly say, this simple salad really is a wonder. If could only pick one salad to have every day for the rest of my life…it would be this one for sure! (At least until the next craze ) It’s lip smacking good.

Love and happiness in my new square deep bowl, perfect for housing my generously sized meals don’t you know! The craze is set to continue…more chickpeas and tahini will be on the cards this week…

What’s your current food craze?

Chickpea Squash Tahini Salad

 Print this easy peasy recipe

Servings – 1

Preparation Time – 5 minutes

Cooking Time – 40 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 cup diced butternut squash skin intact + 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 a tin of chickpeas (200g/7oz)
• 1/2 small white onion finely sliced + 1 tbsp water
• 6-7 sundried tomatoes (rehydrated in boiling water for 1 hour) sliced
• 1 tbsp fresh basil roughly chopped
• 1 cup fresh spinach

Dressing

• 1/2 tbsp tahini paste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp boiling water
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
2. Coat butternut squash in olive oil and place in the oven to roast for 35-40 minutes, until browning and tender.
3. Place onion and water in a pot over a medium heat, bring to boiling point, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until soft and translucent and all water has evaporated.
4. Whisk together all dressing ingredients and set to one side.
5. Place spinach in a colander. Pour boiling water over it and immediately rinse under to cold water.
6. When the squash is done you can serve it up warm or allow to cool before mixing with all other ingredients.
7. Drizzle dressing over the top to serve.

Tagged as: butternut squash, chickpeas, salad, spinach, tahini, tahini dressing