Chickpea and Green Bean Salad with walnut pesto is a truly delicious and wholesome dish. Easy, economical, and quick to prepare. Great for those on a diet who can enjoy it as a main course, for lunch or dinner.
This salad will be your companion in the summer, whether you’re on holiday thinking about beach lunches, or if you’re in the city or at work. Very simple, easy to carry, and as tasty as few.
If you use canned cooked chickpeas, you won’t even need to turn on the stove and you’ll speed up the recipe, but if you’re like me and prefer dried chickpeas, just soak them in cold water overnight, then rinse thoroughly and boil them.
You can prepare it in advance and store it in the fridge for a couple of days.
I preferred to cook the green beans and chickpeas in a pressure cooker for one simple reason:
Pressure cooking is healthier.
Compared to boiled chickpeas and green beans that are immersed in water, this cooking method preserves more vitamins and minerals, giving us better flavors and aromas; thus, we can also say that it is a healthy recipe.
But you can cook them however you prefer.
I dressed them with a quick pesto as I had my own basil, because, you see, I have lots of pots on my terrace full of fresh and super fragrant basil, and walnuts are never lacking in my house, and in an instant, I made a delicious dressing, and I must say it turned out to be a delicious dish.
However, pay attention to the dressing, if you want to make a light recipe, just dress with a drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil and the seasonings you like best.
Anyway, green beans are also good in potato salads, in strudels, savory pies, or to prepare frittatas with mixed vegetables.
We can enjoy it at room temperature or cold from the fridge, and prepare it in advance so that it’s ready to serve when needed.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
- Energy 450.94 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 31.77 (g) of which sugars 7.73 (g)
- Proteins 18.88 (g)
- Fat 27.72 (g) of which saturated 5.47 (g)of which unsaturated 4.08 (g)
- Fibers 9.52 (g)
- Sodium 1,226.68 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 180 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Chickpea and Green Bean Salad
- 7 oz dried chickpeas (or 14 oz cooked)
- 10.5 oz green beans (cleaned weight)
- 5.3 oz cherry tomatoes
- salt
- 1.8 oz basil
- 5 walnuts
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoons Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons pecorino
- Half clove garlic (core removed)
- salt
Tools
- Pressure Cookers
- Immersion Blenders
Steps for the Chickpea and Green Bean Salad
If using glass jar chickpeas, skip this step. If using dried chickpeas, follow this procedure.
After rinsing them under cold running water to remove all impurities, place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with room temperature water.
The advice is to soak the chickpeas for at least 12 hours, taking care to change the water at least twice during this time.
The ratio is 1:4, so 2 liters of water for 500 grams of chickpeas.
To facilitate the chickpeas’ softening process, you can add a pinch of baking soda to the water, which helps break down the fibers in the legumes.
Once soaking is complete, rinse and drain the chickpeas; they are ready to be cooked.
Pour the chickpeas into the pressure cooker, adding water so that it covers the chickpeas by 5 fingers, with herbs and without salt.
(Optional herbs like bay leaf, onion.)
Close the lid and put on high heat.
At the first whistle, lower the heat and cook for 25/30 minutes.
“Cooking time depends on the seed: the larger the chickpeas, the longer it takes.”
Turn off, let the steam escape before opening the lid.
(If you don’t have a pressure cooker, use a regular pot; cooking times are longer, taste occasionally.)
Let’s cook the green beans.
First, clean the green beans by trimming the ends.
(Without using scissors or knives).
We need to break off the ends by pulling down the tip and any thread, which is only present when the beans are a bit more mature.
Young green beans usually don’t have it.
Wash the green beans thoroughly with water and baking soda
But the most used and known method for cooking green beans is boiling.
(In the tips below, I’ll leave alternative cooking methods).
Meanwhile, prepare the pesto with fresh basil leaves, half a glass of extra virgin olive oil, a piece of garlic without the core, 6 tablespoons of grated cheese, 2 of pecorino, and finally 4/5 walnuts.
Blend everything well, also adding a pinch of salt.
In a bowl, combine the chickpeas and green beans.
Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes.
Add them to the already cooked chickpeas and green beans.
Then mix all the ingredients well by seasoning with the walnut pesto.
The chickpea and green bean salad is ready.
Enjoy your meal
Notes and Tips
Once ready, you can serve the chickpea and vegetable salad immediately or store it in the refrigerator for a few hours. If leftovers, store in the refrigerator for a couple of days in an airtight container. Do not freeze.
Variation
If you prefer a richer salad, you can easily add shrimp and tomino cheese, or you can replace them with other fish or cheeses of your choice (such as tuna, salmon, or diced swordfish, feta, primo sale, or quartirolo), but nothing stops you from preparing the recipe even in a carnivorous version (for example, using seared chicken breast or beef strips).
Curiosities
But I’ll leave you with other cooking alternatives; choose the one you prefer.
Boiled. Put some water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Then add the green beans so that they are completely covered with liquid. Once the water starts boiling again, lower the heat and cook the green beans over low heat for 7/8 minutes until they are tender, but still crisp.
Steamed .To steam the green beans, use a steamer or a basket to insert into a pot of boiling water. Here too, the cooking time should not exceed 5/7 minutes, after which you should put them in cold water with ice, to prevent them from darkening.
Microwave If you want to save time and electricity, you can also prepare the green beans in the microwave. Using a steam cooking container, insert the covered beans into the oven and cook for 5 minutes on high power. Remove the container, stir, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. After letting everything rest for 5 minutes, season and serve.
If you cook them in a pressure cooker Cook on high flame and once the pot is under pressure, move it to a small burner on low flame for 7/8 minutes. This cooking time is ideal especially if you then need to stew or pan them. If you want them more cooked, extend the cooking time by a few minutes. Be careful not to scald yourself and after turning off the flame, release the pot from steam by raising the valve. Remove the lid and drain the green beans from the water. Drain them and let them cool. (The cooking of green beans may vary depending on their size, so test them).
If you enjoyed this recipe, click on many stars, thank you so much.
Join my group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/488624465780860
or on my page: https://www.facebook.com/gustoamoreefantasie
Return to the Homepage
