Summer Salad in need of tweaking

I made a roasted vegetable chickpea salad last night.  I made it as written, except I mistakenly bought two bunches of parsley at the store rather than one parsley and one cilantro.  I also omitted the mint.  The salad was good, but a tad on the sweet side.  My first thought for making it next time is to take out the honey from the dressing.  TomCat also pointed out that the gorgonzola is really strong and somewhat sweet.  We were thinking of replacing the gorgonzola with feta next time.  Here's the recipe as I found it, not with my changes. I strongly suggest putting in some changes though.


1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
4 ears of fresh corn, corn cut from the cob
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (15-ounce) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 avocado, chopped
3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil
3 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and add tomatoes, peppers, corn, onions and garlic. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes, toss, then roast for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

While veggies are cooling, add chickpeas to a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together remaining olive oil, vinegar and honey. Set aside.

Add veggies to the chickpeas in the bowl. Add in fresh herbs, then crumble on gorgonzola. Drizzle with dressing, tossing to coat, then top with freshly chopped avocado. Season more if desired. Serve immediately!


It is a really delicious salad and has tons of potential. Seems to be pretty healthy too. It's a lot of chopping, but the salad is huge, so you'll have plenty of leftovers. We had it with some London broil and steamed broccoli. Yum!

Molly