It all started with these pretty, little, springy, yellows flowers from the flowering rabe (brassica) family.  Not at all bitter like rabe can be.  On the contrary, these flowers possess a mild, delicate flavor.  A mere $2 worth of these flowers, that’s all it took.  That’s all it ever takes.  A simple little ingredient, more often than not, turns into a full on pursuit — resulting in a hunt for other ingredients, and so the cycle begins.

Asparagus, fava beans, watermelon radish, treviso radicchio, red leaf lettuce, za’atar roasted chickpeas, Israeli couscous, and, these little, yellow flowers, the culprit, all went into today’s salad. An array of all my favorite spring vegetables.  It’s what I love about spring.  This time of year I’m craving foods that are a bit lighter and more refreshing than heavier winter fare.  Foods that energize, rather than big bowls of comfort.  I love throwing together ginormous salads, tossing in whatever’s in season.

To give the salad a little sustenance, I roasted chickpeas, seasoned with za’atar.  Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice mixture of (ground) dried thyme, oregano, and/or marjoram mixed with toasted sesame seeds, salt, and, sometimes, other spices such as sumac (the fruit of the sumac plant is ground into a reddish-purplish powder; it adds a lemony taste to the spice mix).

The dressing, just a light champagne vinaigrette to tie it all together.

My inspiration for today’s salad was a handful of these spring-looking, edible, broccoli rabe flowers…and the rest followed in pursuit.

Fava bean require a bit of work insofar as shelling them.  Notwithstanding, when they’re young, fava beans are tender, buttery, and oh so delicious…

Couldn’t help myself, had to put an [poached] egg on it…

Spring Inspired Salad

These are the ingredients that went into my spring inspired salad:
(Treviso) Raddichio, chopped
Red leaf lettuce, chopped/torn into bite-sized pieces
Grilled asparagus, chopped
Fava Beans, quickly blanched and peeled
Radish (used watermelon), thinly sliced
Edible flowers (used broccoli rabe flowers)
Israeli couscous with parsley, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper (the addition of some chopped almond might be nice)
Champagne vinaigrette (recipe below)
Za’atar roasted chickpeas (recipe below); add these to the salad just before serving, so they stay crunchy
Poached egg(s), optional

Za’ atar Roasted Chickpeas

1 (15-ounce) can of chickpeas, drained
generous drizzle of olive oil to coat the chickpeas
1 tablespoon za’atar
large pinch of smoked paprika
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss chickpeas with the olive oil, za’atar, and paprika.  Season with salt. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake until cripsy, giving the chickpeas a shake ever so often, about 30-40 minutes.

Champagne Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
squeeze of lemon
drizzle of honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small shallot, finely chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Whisk well.