monday meal planning

By now, I'm sure you're more than aware of two things: I love salads in all incarnations and I love Terroir. Put these two together and you end up with their smoked chickpea and calamari salad which I have yet to not order every single time I've ever been to either location. I'd feel all weird inside knowing I wasn't going to get to have it. It's become one of the many driving factors which all too often convince me that I need to visit at least once a week. A brief scanning of my credit card statement recently solidified this for me. It was funny for a second seeing the word "Terroir" so many times. And then, very quickly, it became not-so-funny.

I've since taken a nearly two week break. Don't worry. That will change this week.

Back to salads. And particularly that smoked chickpea and calamari one. This is a salad I've had in my notes to post for you all since the first time I had it, back in October of last year. Don't ask why it's taken so long to put up. I have no answer. But this particular Monday felt like the right time to do it.

I'm going to leave the calamari out but feel free to add some tuna (which is what I'll be doing) or leaving it completely vegetarian. The smokiness in this salad is what makes it otherworldly so I'm suggesting you use some smoked Spanish paprika but I'm fairly confident Terroir is sneaking in some liquid smoke in theirs. So I'll leave that decision up to you. Either way, this salad will not disappoint. It's actually impossible.

Smoked Chickpea Salad

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed (I pinch off the skin on each one, personal preference)

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 or 2 ribs of celery, finely chopped

1 large clove of garlic, grated or finely chopped

1/4 cup pitted nicoise olives

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 tsp (or to taste) red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
1 lemon, zest from half, juice from whole

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Toss well and taste for seasoning.

Pack a tupperwear of this for lunch or serve alongside virtually anything for dinner. A piece of grilled fish or chicken, or a simple panini or quesadilla. This pretty much goes with anything.

And while we're talking about grilled fish, I'm thinking a piece of grilled, super rare tuna (sorry, I realize that's P.I. but you can go swordfish) with a mango salsa would do wonders for anyone's mood this week.

Mango Salsa

1 or 2 mangoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 jalapeno, de-seeded and finely chopped (or whole, depending on your tolerance)

a couple handfuls of chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime, juiced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Taste for seasoning. Serve alongside a grilled piece of tuna or swordfish.

THE LIST

celery

red onion (2 small)

flat leaf parsley

cilantro

mangoes (1 or 2)

jalapeno

1 lemon

1 lime

nicoise olives (about 1/4 cup)

1 can chickpeas

tuna or swordfish steak