Jamie Oliver's Summer Chickpea Salad

I haven't posted in a long while and its time for me to get back into the swing of things. I was searching my blog for this recipe the other day and realised that I hadn't posted the recipe for this lovely salad previously. Its one of my favourite salads, its great on its own, or as a side dish at a BBQ. I made it on Sunday to accompany roast chicken and roast potatoes at a family gathering. The recipe below is just a guideline. I added cucumber and I used coriander, I also added a tin of cannellini beans. Its great for lunch with some ciabatta to mop up the wonderful flavours. 

Ingredients
1 small red onion , peeled
1-2 fresh red chillies , deseeded
2 handfuls ripe red or yellow tomatoes
1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
410 g tinned chickpeas , drained, or around 4 large handfuls of soaked and cooked chickpeas
1 handful fresh mint , chopped
1 handful fresh green or purple basil , finely ripped
100 g feta cheese

Method
First of all, finely slice your red onion. Once that's done, finely slice your chillies then roughly chop your tomatoes, mixing them in with the onion and chillies. Scrape all of this, and the juice, into a bowl and dress with the juice of half a lemon and 3 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste. Heat the chickpeas in a pan, then add 90 per cent of them to the bowl. Mush up the remaining chickpeas and add these as well – they will give a nice creamy consistency. Allow to marinate for a little while and serve at room temperature.
Just as you're ready to serve, give the salad a final dress with the fresh mint and basil. Taste one last time for seasoning – you may want to add the juice from your remaining lemon half at this point. Place on a nice serving dish and crumble over the feta cheese.

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