Chickpea Salad with Grated Tomato Dressing
A summer salad of chickpeas, cucumbers, basil and fresh tomatoes tossed in a grated tomato vinaigrette and finished with crunchy croutons.
Grated tomato, like you'd find spooned over garlic-slicked toast in Spanish pan con tomate, makes for an ideal savory-sweet and acidic base for a summertime vinaigrette. In this hybrid dish with panzanella and chickpea salad heritage, juicy tomato flesh is amply seasoned to create a quick marinade for the beans, along with cucumbers and more fresh tomato. After they all make friends, some toasted croutons arrive, fashionably late but incredibly welcome for their texture. After a little time, the bread softens, as anyone might after meeting kindred spirits.