Eggplant & Chickpea Salad With a Parmesan Dressing

Another day, another fresh & summery salad. I present you with my Eggplant & Chickpea Salad With a Parmesan Dressing. I feel like eggplant is a vegetable people forget exists, when in reality it can be a great source of dietary fiber, manganese, and vitamin K - three nutrients that most Americans don't get enough of in their diet! So, I made this perfect vegetarian recipe for you to make yourself under 30 minutes! All you need is eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes, olives, arugula, and parmesan. Because you can live your best life and eat cheese. Once you make this incredibly flavorful salad, you'll never look at eggplant the same again! Let's get to it.

Yields: 1

Prep time: 20 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian.

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Ingredients:

1. 1 eggplant

2. 8 sugar bomb tomatoes (I get these from Wegman's and they are so flavorful - but feel free to use grape or cherry tomatoes)

3. 6-8 kalamata olives

4. Arugula

5. ¼ cup of chickpeas

6. 1 TBSP shredded parmesan

7. ½ lemon

8. Extra virgin olive oil

9. 2 garlic cloves finely minced

10. Salt, lemon pepper

11. Fresh parsley, finely chopped, to garnish

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Instructions:

1. First, preheat your oven to broil.

2. Grab your eggplant and slice thin vertical strips, about 1 ½ inch thick. You'll most likely chop 4-5 slices.

3. Now, grab a baking sheet and place aluminum foil on top. Place your eggplant slices onto the sheet. Drizzle on olive oit, salt, and black pepper onto both sides. Make sure all eggplant slices are seasoned equally. Now, grab the finely minced garlic and sprinkle them equally onto the eggplant slices.

4. Broil until the eggplant slices are fully tender, you don't want them to burn though. This may take up to 15 minutes or so.

5. While the eggplant slices are broiling, have your cherry tomatoes sliced into thin coin pieces, your kalamata olives sliced in halves, and your parsley finely chopped for later use.

6. For the dressing: grab a small bowl and pour in 2-3 TBSPS of olive oil, the juice of ½ lemon, 1 TBSP shredded parmesan, and salt & lemon pepper to taste. Mix very well.

7. Let's put it all together: gently take the eggplant out to cool. Once it does it's ready to layer. Grab a serving bowl, add in a handful of arugula, and layer the strips of eggplant. Add in your chickpeas, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, and parsley. Pour on your dressing.

8. Mix & enjoy!