Garlicky Chickpea, Bacon and Spinach Salad (+Vegetarian Option)

While rummaging in the chest freezer I came across a bag of bacon that looked more than a little frost-bitten. It had been in the freezer for more than 4 months, and needed to be used if it was still good. I took it out to defrost and see if it was salvageable. It was, but since I have already planned out our dinners for the next seven weeks, I decided to make it into a lunch. I thought chickpeas and bacon sounded pretty good so had a look online at some ideas, and then developed this epicurious recipe into a fresh, cool-served salad.

As you may have gathered, my partner is Spanish. Through Carlos and his family I have come to love Spanish food with a passion, and get excited about trying new things with the classics of the Spanish flavour profile. This salad has many essentials: garbanzos (chickpeas), pork, olive oil, garlic, capsicum and sweet paprika.

Recipe

Makes 4 serves
Cooking time 15 mins

Ingredients

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and soaked in water for 5 mins, then drained
5 rashers of bacon, sliced
olive oil for cooking
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 small red capsicum, chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
150 grams baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar

Canned chickpeas are great for this dish

Garlic, paprika and bacon

Method

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, and cook the bacon. Once bacon is cooked add half the amount of drained chickpeas to the fry pan. Cook for a minute, letting the fat from the bacon coat the chickpeas. Remove from pan.

Lower the heat of the fry pan and add a bit more oil and the chopped garlic. You want to fry the garlic but not burn it, so keep the frying pan on a low heat. If you think the pan is too hot then remove it from the heat and continue to cook the garlic - there will be more than enough residual heat. Once garlic is cooked add the rest of the drained chickpeas and the paprika. Please be aware - paprika can also easily burn so keep the heat low! Stir through and cook for a minute on low heat. Remove from pan.

In a large bowl mix the bacony chickpeas and the garlicky chickpeas together. Add the roughly chopped spinach and chopped capsicum and mix well. There is enough olive oil from frying that this salad wont need a dressing, but I added a teaspoon of sherry vinegar just to have a touch of acidity.

Notes:
I will be making this again! It traveled really well and was really delicious and filling. I think I will make this with chorizo in the future for a main meal.

Vegetarian Option

To make this recipe vegetarian you can omit bacon and use vegan bacon in its place. You can also make this recipe without a bacon substitute, just begin with the fried garlic step and add all the chickpeas then.

Garnish with shaved Manchego