Falafel Salad

Sometimes cooking dinner after a long day at work is the absolute last thing I want to do when I get home at night… I remember why I used to eat eggs so often when I was living on my own.

But the other night I decided to dig deep and pull out the old food processor to make a salad with a twist: The Falafel Salad. 
I have to say it was well worth the use of equipment, and actually very simple to do. Remarkably I had many of the ingredients already in my kitchen- which is uncommon and signals to me that my “Martha Stewart” skills are truly being developed. 

If you’re like me, seeing two separate recipes in a blog post usually makes me flip to the next… but please do not be dissuaded- the dressing is very easy and the food processor is already out, so you may as well just do it. As my British Mom would say, “in for a penny, in for a pound.” 

Here is what you need:

• 1 Large can of chickpeas (540 ml)
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup red onion, roughly chopped (save some for the salad)
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup packed fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used gluten free crackers crumbled up instead of bread crumbs)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
• 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt, or to taste

1. In a food processor, with the processor running, drop in 3 garlic cloves to mince and then add about 2 cups of chickpeas… (You need to leave some whole to stir in later). Add the onion, lemon juice, and herbs. Process until just combined, but so that it is still kind of chunky and with some texture.

2. Scoop the mixture into a large bowl. Stir in the ground flax, breadcrumbs, cumin, reserved chickpeas, and salt and pepper to taste. Shape into patties, about 1/4 cup each and really pack the dough in tightly so it holds together.

3. Make your salad: Mine was super simple and included chopped spinach, big chunks of tomato, a big chunks of cucumber, red onion and some a pre-cooked salmon fillet that I just cut into small pieces. 

4. Grease pre-heated skillet with olive oil and cook the patties on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden.

5. Drizzle with Lemon Tahini Dressing (Combine the below ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Makes just under 1 cup)

•  1/4 cup Tahini (This took forever for me to find in Choices… turns out it was in the Peanut butter aisle)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast or a bit more, to taste
• 2-4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• 1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 tbsp water, or as needed