Chickpea Carrot Salad Boats

Endive leaves are a perfect way  to make anything into finger food. I like to fill them up with salad for healthy but delicious and easy to eat appetizers. Since they are a type of lettuce leaf this is basically salad within a salad. The stuffing I used here is kind of mediterranean inspired and full of fiber and a range of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. I like to use bright vegetables to contrast the light green of the endive but any kind of dense whole grain or legume based salad would work well, just as long as there is not too much dressing or it becomes harder to eat and the endive could get soggy. This is a really quick and easy way to make a veggie based appetizer that is a little different from a standard veggie tray. The stuffing stays fresh well enough that it can be made the night before or the morning of serving, but I recommend placing it in the endive no more than a few hours before serving so that the leaves stay extra crisp.

Chickpea Carrot Salad Boats
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 35-40 boats
INGREDIENTS:
  • 4 endive bunches
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 red pepper, cut finely
  • ½ cup pine nuts
  • ¼ cup green onion, sliced thinly
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar for more of a punch)
  • 2 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes, sliced thinly
  • 2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped (or ¼ teaspoon dried)
  • ½ garlic clove, minced
  • Optional: ½ cup parmesan, freshly and finely grated
  • Optional topping: an extra sprinkle of cilantro leaves
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl except the endive. With the endive, slice off the bottom where all the leaves meet and then separate them all, rinse them in cold water and dry. Lay them all out in a large platter, the inner leaves are a bit too small but most of the bunch should have relatively similar sized leaves. With the outer couple layers the base parts of the leaves can be a bit thick so I cut an extra bit off until only the softer leaf is left. Spoon around a tablespoon or so of the chickpea mixture into each endive leaf.

 

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