Chickpea “Tuna” Salad

I have all but given up eating fish and seafood, including canned tuna, due to overfishing, mercury, polluted waters, micro-plastics in fish… etc. I have also never been a big fan of mayo, so when I used to make tuna salad I would opt for a mustard base.  Discovering chickpea “tuna” salad was a pleasant surprise because it functions really well as a salad or sandwich, just like tuna salad, but is vegan (my version) or vegetarian if you choose to add mayo.

The ingredients are:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
• 1/2 shallot or 1 TB red onion, minced
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 2 TB dijon mustard
• 2 TB olive oil
• ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• 1 TB Bragg nutritional yeast (optional)
• 2 TB chopped/crumbled nori (optional)
• pinch of paprika (optional)

One thing I read the first time I made this salad was to mash or squeeze the chickpeas with your hands. It feels a little weird to grab handfuls of legumes and squish them, but I think the general idea is it allows the entire salad to come together more and stay together a little the way a tuna salad would. You’re not looking to completely mash them, but give them a bit of a squeeze.

Add your ingredients to a bowl and mix. It’s that simple. Use mayo if you’d like. The addition of nutritional yeast imparts a little more flavor of umami, and the nori gives it a little “from the sea” taste. They’re optional, but especially good if you’re on a salt-free diet.

I put mine on some freshly baked sourdough with avocado for an open faced sandwich… aka “fancy toast.”

Jackfruit Quesadillas

If you haven’t tried jackfruit yet, I’d like to suggest you find some and experiment for your next meatless Monday or any day you want to enjoy a filling, vegetarian, meaty substitute. Here in Denver we can buy plain jackfruit in a can at the local Asian grocer. I also saw plain frozen jackfruit there. I prefer it plain (unseasoned) because I like to control the ingredients I add to dishes. But, there are some companies you’ll see in your local grocery store selling BBQ jackfruit and some other common saucy flavors near the tofu and vegetarian protein section. Just ask someone at the store to point you in the right direction!

Jackfruit is a tropical fruit that doesn’t have much flavor on its own. It has a texture, when cooked, that can pass for pulled pork or chicken. So think of this alternative the next time you’re making something that would have a shredded chicken or pork ingredient.

I drain the canned jackfruit and then break it apart before cooking.

There are some large round seed-like pods, but they’re not hard, so just go ahead and use all of it.

I like to break it into small pieces to be sure whatever sauce I’m cooking it in penetrates every nook and cranny. As with tofu or tempeh, it’s just bland on its own. Maximizing where the flavor/sauce goes will make each bite better.

This time I made jackfruit quesadillas. I picked up a locally made salsa at the mercado down the street and added some to my jackfruit.

This salsa de piña was SPICY. Whatever salsa you have will do. Use something you like.

Cook the jackfruit on medium-low for 15 minutes or so and then assemble your dish. In this case, I made quesadillas.

I enjoy quesadillas because each piece can be loaded up to your liking.

Extra salsa, avocado, and squash blossoms made for a fun snack.

Or, guacamole, sour cream, and cortido (an El Salvadoran slaw) make yummy combination as well.

Basically, the bottom line is jackfruit is versatile, inexpensive, filling, and vegetarian. It’s worth exploring in dishes that usually call for chicken or pork.

Massaged Kale Salad #1

On a recent culinary tour in Denver with my company Local Table Tours, I met a gal who was hysterically sassy, smart, and memorable. She has an interesting story of living in bumble f*%& Nebraska with her husband, who always requests the same kale salad. I don’t remember the ingredients she told me, and I do hope if she reads this post she emails me with them, but she had me cracking up about massaging the kale. Apparently, one can get tired of massaging kale, so she’s started just “slapping” it with olive oil and says hubby can’t tell the difference.

Anyway, it had me thinking all week how I’ve never “massaged” kale. I always boil, sautee, or bake those hearty greens. It was time to try giving them a nice massage.

I washed, de-veined, and chopped some dino kale, and added that with some minced spring garlic, olive oil, and sea salt to a bowl.

Pre-Massage

Then, you just “massage” it, or kneed it all together like bread dough for a few minutes.

Post-Massage

And let it sit. I left it for an hour or so before tossing it with garbanzo beans, tomato, celery, and avocado.

Add some crunch, protein, and avocado

This was SO easy, so delicious, and I’m SO silly for not making this sooner.

Dinner is served.

Mango Chipotle Zinger Guacamole

Guacamole has so many variations, almost all of which are fantastic. One combo I’d not yet tried is adding nuts. As I had a drawer full of Olomomo nuts, one of which was their Mango Chipotle Zinger Almonds, a bowl full of ripe mangos, and a few avocados, it seemed like the planets had aligned for my next recipe featuring Olomomo nuts.

Olomomo’s Mango Chipotle Zinger Almonds not only add just the right amount of crunch, the flavor profile is perfect for this guacamole.

It’s just some ripe avocado, cubes of champagne mango, garlic, salt, lemon juice, aleppo pepper, and coarsely chopped almonds. I’d say add as much or little as you like. You know how to make a good guac… You don’t need me to tell you.