Is it a salad? A veg heavy crostini? For the sake of this post, I’m calling it a salad. A salad you eat with a fork and a knife. Sweet romaine and peppery radicchio are grilled until they’re wilted and charred then layered on equally charred thick cut slices of sourdough bread (you could use any white bread bread, but why would you?!) that’s been brushed generously with olive oil, or even better, homemade garlic oil. Think of it as one giant crouton. Sooooo, not a bad thing.

Next comes a drizzle of Charred Carrot Dressing – methinks I detect a theme here – a smoky, spicy puree of carrots, red bell pepper, garlic, and a touch of harissa that comes together in less than 15 minutes. It’s so thick and creamy, we’ve almost got a carrot hummus situation on our hands. Again, so not a bad thing. The final touch? Crispy, cumin roasted chickpeas. The cumin complements the carrot dressing perfectly and the chickpeas turn this into a satisfying, protein-packed meal, which is how we’ve been eating it on a weekly basis.

For those days when you’ve got time on your hands, this also makes a perfect appetizer to serve at your next dinner party. I highly recommend following it up with my Very Green Pasta Salad during these final days of summer and my Five Ingredient Roasted Broccoli Soup once that autumn chill sets in. It’s kinda the perfect transitional salad to take you gracefully from summer barbecues to fall evenings spent by the fire. It’s also real purrty to look at.

No matter the season, this gorgeous salad is sure to be devoured.

Grilled Romaine & Radicchio Salad

 

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Serves 4 as an appetizer salad, 2 as a main.

Author: The Mostly Vegan

Ingredients

• 4 slices thick cut sourdough bread
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 head radicchio
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil or garlic oil

Crispy Chickpeas

• 1, 15 ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Charred Carrot Dressing

• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons harissa
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat.* Cut romaine and radicchio lengthwise into 4 pieces each. Using a pastry brush, coat sourdough and lettuces generously in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Working in batches, lay bread and lettuces in pan and cook until charred on all sides, about 6 minutes.
3. To assemble salads, place grilled bread on a plate, top with a piece of romaine and radicchio, drizzle with carrot dressing and sprinkle with chickpeas.

Crispy Chickpeas

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Drain and rinse garbanzo beans. Pat dry and toss with tablespoon olive oil. Lay out on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Roast for 20 - 25 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes. Once beans are golden and crispy, remove from the oven and toss with cumin, sea salt, and black pepper.
2. Alternately, chickpeas can be cooked in a skillet over medium-high heat for 10 minutes then tossed with cumin, salt and pepper.

Charred Carrot Dressing

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Remove skins from garlic cloves. Add carrots, red bell pepper, and whole garlic cloves to the skillet. Cook until veggies are charred and very soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Spoon carrot mixture and any olive oil left in pan into a high powered blender or food processor. Add harissa, salt and pepper, and ½ cup water to blender. Blend on high until dressing is very smooth, adding additional water to thin if necessary.
3. Dressing can be served at room temperature or warmed in a small saucepan if desired.

Notes

* Bread and lettuces can also be cooked on an outdoor grill.

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If you can’t get enough salads, check out these Thai Noodle Bowls that I cooked up for Project Juice. Gluten free rice noodles tossed with kale, cabbage, Fresno chilis (the list of veggies packed into these babies is endless) and a highly slurpable peanut cilantro dressing.