chickpea salad

I am currently rehydrating chickpeas. I covered them with 1 1/2 inches water in a bowl this morning and will let them soak for 12 hours before simmering them for 1-2 hours tonight. The goal here is to develop a simple chickpea salad I can make up weekly and take out for lunches, or sides for dinners, etc.

There is a simple recipe at bon appetit which will form a base for making salads. It gives me something to do with my fresh herbs all year round, which is important given that I harbor guilty feelings about wasted herbs. I am currently overproducing cilantro and parsley, both of which would be brilliant in these kinds of salads. (This presumes my parsley survived the recent frosts.)

I will continue to update this post through the first salad.

UPDATE.

I simmered the soaked beans for 1 hour. This produced a nice texture for the beans. Soft, but with enough substance to retain their character. I then pressed two large garlic cloves into 2 tablespoons of oil and let the mixture sit for one hour. Then I squeezed in the juice of two lemons and added 1/2 cup of fresh chopped parsley.

UPDATE.

The beans will require more simmering. When cold, they proved a little too crunchy. Also, the salad tastes its best on the third day, when all the flavors meld together.