Cresson, Garbanzo Beans, Dates Salad
By: Giangi Townsend
Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - 1:51pm

Ingredients




1 15-ounces garbanzo beans can, rinsed
2 garlic cloves
4 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
½ onion quartered
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cresson salad
¾ cup chopped fresh pitted dates
2 tablespoons scallions finely sliced
1 whole lemon zest plus juice
¼ mint leaves chopped + some for garnish (optional)
½ heaping teaspoon sumac
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation

1 In a medium pot add the rinsed garbanzo beans, thyme, bay leaf, onion, and salt. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes, the garbanzo beans need to soft, whole but not mushy. Remove from heat and with a skimmer spatula remove the garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and onion. Drain the garbanzo beans and set aside to cool down. 2 Once the garbanzo beans are cool down, place them in a salad bowl, and add the dates, scallions, lemon zest and lemon juice, mint, sumac, and 1tablespoon olive oil. Mix well until everything is well incorporated. Add the cresson salad, a little bit more of the remaining olive oil and mix gently and serve. 3 Garnish with fresh mint and more lemon zest, however, this step is optional.

About

Cresson, Garbanzo Beans, Dates Salad. I am absolutely in love with garbanzo beans, or chickpeas. Any opportunity to have them incorporated in my meal is always a plus with me. A while back a prepared a chickpeas recipe, Chickpeas, Cauliflower, Curry vinaigrette that required some boiling. I really enjoyed how much softer to the bite the garbanzo beans were thus I wanted to use that method here while adding extra flavors to it.
However, all this started because at our local grocery store it was the first time I noticed they carry cresson salad, or for my Anglo-Saxon friends, watercress. I enjoyed it often growing up in France, and was super excited to bring it home and prepare a dish with it. But I did not want to prepare your basic salad either. I have also been experimenting with new spices.  Therefore, wanted to play outside my box and this recipe is the result of.