Spanish Chickpea & Tuna Salad

I tried this dish at a tapas bar in Spain.  A quiet, unassuming bowl among many other exciting salads, in the top left of the photo below, only some of the bowl is in this shoot.  I tried some, because it looked so pretty.  I was instantly in love.

We'd been wandering all morning in this city square filled with coin, stamp and other collectibles flea market.  We'd gotten off our cruise ship early that morning, and frankly after 7 days on a cruise ship, you'd think you'd be full still?
Nope...  
Having been off the ship for five hours, we were all ready for our next meal.  There were many cute little places in the Gothic district, but it can be so hard to tell which is going to be good.  Many looks SO touristy...

This place appeared to be a chain restaurant, but it was just ready to open and we could see inside to the great looking buffet of tapas, all ready for us to check it out.  

This was a good value and easy for a group to eat so that everyone got exactly what they wanted.

Some of the dishes... seafood paella

Potato tortilla on a slice of bread with a hot pepper, interesting!

Spanish Meatballs

But, onto the recipe for that salad I talked about earlier!

Serves 5, makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

    

2 cans chick-peas, drained and rinsed

Salt, to taste for the chickpeas

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil (to taste)

1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained and broken into large flakes

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1/4 cup red or yellow bell pepper, diced small (I used a bit of both)

1/4 cup cucumber, diced small
1/4 cup celery, diced small

1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar (to taste)

3 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley

In a large bowl, gently toss together the chickpeas, the tuna, onion, bell pepper, the olive oil, vinegar, chopped parsley and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Add more olive oil, vinegar, or salt and pepper as you like.

Serve slightly chilled.

If you think red onions are too strong, try this trick.  Pour boiling water over the minced onions, drain and add to the salad.  This makes them less strong, which many people object to in red onions.

 

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