Roasted Red Pepper Chickpea Salad

This recipe is adapted from Claudia Roden’s Arabesque; it’s so scrumptious! The cookbook has beautiful photos and a great deal of information about Middle Eastern cuisine.

4 bell peppers (I like to use different colors if possible; red, yellow and orange)
14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 T EVOO
juice of 1 large lemon
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
chopped parsley
goat cheese crumbles

Roast the peppers on the grill or over a flame on the stovetop; put them in a covered bowl to sweat the skin until cool. Peel the peppers and cut into strips.

While peppers are cooling, soak the garlic in a very small amount of the lemon juice to take out the sting. Once the peppers are cooled and cut into strips, combine them with the garlic, parsley and chickpeas. Whisk the oil, lemon juice and salt/pepper; you don’t need to use all the dressing. Start with half and see if you want more. Add the goat cheese crumbles before serving.