{"id":1152,"date":"2011-11-02T13:39:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T20:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=1152"},"modified":"2011-11-02T14:13:28","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T21:13:28","slug":"earthy-edibles-a-touch-of-the-mediterranean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2011\/11\/02\/earthy-edibles-a-touch-of-the-mediterranean\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthy Edibles<\/i>: A touch of the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the kind of recipe that will stand up to whatever different vegetables you want to throw in it. (Don\u2019t take that as a challenge.) Really, it\u2019s super versatile: you can switch up the greens for spring mix or arugula, and the sunflower seeds for toasted almonds, or whatever other nuts or seeds your taste buds desire. This salad can also be ready in a flash, especially if you cook the rice in advance. Since rice is the kind of thing you don\u2019t have to stir while it\u2019s cooking, you can leave it alone once it\u2019s simmering and snuggle up with a good book (or textbook) until it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(Photo by Keira Zikmanis.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mediterranean-inspired chickpea salad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Serves 6<\/p>\n

Prep time 15 minutes, cook time 50 minutes<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 \u00bd cups brown rice (or 3 cups cooked brown rice), cooled to room temperature<\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp salt<\/p>\n

2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 16oz can)<\/p>\n

\u00bd medium red onion, diced fine<\/p>\n

2 cups loosely packed, chopped spinach<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup coarsely chopped, pitted black olives<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup crumbled feta<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup toasted sunflower seeds<\/p>\n

1 red pepper, cut into \u00bd inch squares<\/p>\n

Dressing<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 small cloves of garlic, minced<\/p>\n

Juice of 1 lemon<\/p>\n

1 \u00bd tsp sugar or maple syrup<\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp dried tarragon<\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp dried basil<\/p>\n

\u00bd tsp salt<\/p>\n

Pepper, to taste<\/p>\n

4 \u00bd tbsp olive oil<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rinse the brown rice in a fine mesh strainer (or in a pot, using the lid to drain). Bring the rice to a boil with 3 cups of water and \u00bd tsp salt in a small-to-medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid. Once bubbling, reduce the heat and simmer the rice until tender, about 45-50 minutes or until there\u2019s no water left in the pot. Let cool to room temperature.<\/p>\n

Combine all ingredients (except those for the dressing) in a large bowl. For the dressing, put all ingredients (except the olive oil) in a jar, tighten the lid, and give it a shake. You can also use a bowl and a whisk for the dressing, but shaking it in a jar can really help the oil to emulsify properly. Now add the oil and shake vigorously for a minute or until everything is well combined. Add pepper to taste.<\/p>\n

Now drizzle the dressing onto your salad ingredients, and stir to combine.<\/p>\n

Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the kind of recipe that will stand up to whatever different vegetables you want to throw in it. (Don\u2019t take that as a challenge.) Really, it\u2019s super versatile: you can switch up the greens for spring mix or arugula, and the sunflower seeds for toasted almonds, or whatever other nuts or seeds your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-november-2-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1152"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}