Chickpea and Arugula Salad with Creamy Cumin Dressing and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Everything about this is going to be quick. This salad was quick to make, and there aren’t many ingredients to discuss, but that’s why it’s worthy of mentioning at all. The recipe appeared in the August 2010 issue of Food and Wine as part of a story about speedy party menus. This really can be made in a few minutes time, and it really does taste more complicated than that. I believe the most challenging step in the preparation was slicing some green onions or maybe washing the arugula. But, if you arrange the salad on a big platter, it makes an incongruously grand presentation.

For the dressing, just whisk together some plain yogurt, cumin, minced garlic, lime juice, and white balsamic vinegar. Add rinsed and drained, canned chickpeas to the dressing and stir to combine. See, nothing is even remotely difficult here. Wash and spin dry some baby arugula leaves and arrange them on a platter. Top the arugula with the chickpea and dressing mixture. Slice some green onions and scatter them over the top of the chickpeas. Then, sprinkle about some roasted pumpkin seeds. That’s it, and you have a great-looking salad full of interesting flavors.

Certainly, you could use baby spinach leaves or some other kind of baby greens in place of the arugula if you were so inclined. However, since there are only a few things being put together here, they do all play important roles and arugula’s pepperiness mingled well with the cumin in the dressing. Interestingly, the salad looked huge spread out on a big serving platter, but that big platter was soon empty. Sometimes the best things are the easiest.