Warm Chick Pea Salad with Pickled Walnuts

I love salads but sometimes when its cold I make this warm chickpea salad as its perfect eaten hot or cold. With middle Eastern flavours it goes really well with a meze of pitta bread, hummus, Baba Ganoush to make the perfect lunch.

Yield: Serves 2 Author: Nayna Kanabar

Warm Chickpea and Pickled Walnut Salad

A warm spiced chickpea salad with lovely Moroccan flavours.

prep time: 10 minscook time: 5 minstotal time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 240 g Precooked chick Peas
• 1/2 green capsicum finely diced
• 1/2 red capsicum finely diced
• 1 small red onion finely diced
• 1 pickled walnut finely diced
• 1 tablespoon brine from the pickled walnuts
• 4 sprigs fresh coriander finely chopped.
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sumac
• 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
• 1 red chilli finely diced

Instructions

1. In a pan add the olive oil and saute the onions until translucent. To the onions add the the chick peas, peppers and warm through.
2. Transfer the chickpea mixture to a bowl and add two thirds of the pomegranate and pickled walnuts and the chopped coriander.
3. In a jar add the lemon juice, walnut brine,sumac, diced chilli, salt, honey, back pepper and mix thoroughly
4. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.
5. Transfer the salad to serving  bowl and garnish with remaining pomegranate and chopped coriander.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Lunch at Ritorno Covent Garden London

Covent garden is my favourite part of London, I love spending lazy Sunday afternoons strolling through the square and savouring the atmosphere. It is also the hub of London theatre land showing some wonderful shows.

There is so much to do in Covent Garden that you could easily spend a day there. There are many bars, coffee shops and restaurants dotted around and you will find all types of cuisine to suit your taste and pocket. On my recent trip shopping trip we decided to stop to have a light lunch. My friend Heidi and I love Italian food so we lunched at Ritorno a chic Italian brasserie in the centre of Covent Garden

The restaurant is tastefully decorated with stripes and a flamingo theme. It's very quirky and fun yet stylish too. The restaurant has an amazing fully stocked up bar and the menu had lots of choice. There was a choice of the brunch menu or a la carte.

 

We didn't drink any alcohol instead we settled for soft drinks whilst we waited to order our meal.
We decided to have order a main course only as we wanted a light meal. I choice the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina  a homemade baked ‘Sorrento style’ potatoes gnocchi in tomato sauce with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana. It was light and absolutely delicious in texture and flavour. Being a vegetarian I found adequate choice on the menu to choose from which is always a plus for me.

Heidi on the other hand chose the Ravioli Di Burrata -a housemade ravioli pasta stuffed with creamy Burrata from Andria fresh cherry tomato and basil sauce. She too enjoyed it tremendously.

After the delicious  pasta dishes, we enjoyed a mini dessert each. We both chose the chocolate cake, This was surprising different to what we had imagined, it was more like a brownie. Never the less it was still tasty.The warm chocolate cake was served with Sicilian ricotta cheese topping and an orange and chocolate crispy tuille. It was just enough to satisfy those sweet taste buds without making you feel over indulgent.

Finally I have to mention this the trip to the ladies washroom was a total surprise. It was a transportation to a pink imaginary world. You can see what I mean from the picture below.

Thank you to Ritorno who invited us as guests to dine with them. It was a really enjoyable lunch, the service was great.We would definitely return there again for another meal. All views and opinions are of our experience of the meal.
You can read about Heidis experience below.

Judge Radiant Saucepans Review

Being a foodie I spend a lot of time in my kitchen cooking. Having good quality pots and pans with a good non stick coating is a must. Non stick pans means you can use minimal oil and cook food to perfection making it healthy too.
I recently needed to replace my pans as over time they had got scratched and were not in good condition. My search lead me to the Judge kitchen ware. 

The Judge Radiant range is stylish in black, it has Teflon’s very latest Radiance non-stick surface which is PFOA free. This is very important as cheaper coating tend to peel off after prolonged use and can contaminate the food. The Teflon coating is a 3 layer coating with integrated ferrous particles that help to quicken heat transfer through and pan and maintain even heat throughout the pan surface. The pans have a high efficient aluminium body that is sealed with a heat proof metallic paint to make them strong.

The pans are all suitable for all hob types and they are oven safe up to 150 degrees C. They come with a Judge 25-year guarantee and also 10-year non-stick guarantee. The radiant range comes in 13 different pans including saucepans, fry pans, woks and crepe pans, and 3 and 5 piece sets. All the pans have matching soft grip stay cool handles and knobs on the lids. The lids have vents to prevent over boil. They are easy to clean and totally dishwasher safe too which is a requirement in this day and age. 

The full range is available to buy from Horwoods. Prices start from £20.00, the pans are extremely good value for money. I have the three pan set but I am planning on adding a few more pieces to my collection. I love the stylish black but for those who like to add a pop of colour to their kitchen you can get them in red too.

In collaboration with Judge Cookware, I was sent a set of judge pan to put to test in my kitchen, all views and opinions and photos are my own.