Neighborhood Dinner Club

We have had two meetings of our neighborhood Dinner Club with two other couples in our 'hood. Plus kids. One couple has two girls, and one couple has one on the way. I'd consider that three kids total, plus six adults. It makes for a rare evening of a variety of conversation topics, as well as backgrounds and locations. Our most recent meeting was at our house.

As it is 100 degrees regularly now, I made some room-temperature friendly things. One of which was this chickpea salad which I served over greens which was probably redundant. Delicious either way, and we need to eat more beans. My next challenge is to soak my own dried beans, but I'm saving that for another week.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
(serves 6?)

8 oz, dried chickpeas, soaked, liquid reserved, OR 2 cans drained
1 1/4 t coards salt
1 garlic clove, minced
16 crushed peppercorns (WHAT? I'm just reading this. Just grind as you please.)
3 T sherry vinegar (I used white balsamic)
2 T olive oil
3/4 t dried oregano
2 c yellow or red cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and diced 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 green bell pepper, 1/2 inch dice
2 carrots, thin sliced
3 scallions, sliced (I think you know I left these out)
3 T parsley, chopped
2 T basil, shredded

If not using canned, place dried chickpeas, soaking liquid and 3/4 t salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas are tender, about 40 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a bowl.

Meanwhile, pulverize the garlic cloves with 1/2 t salt to make a paste. Transfer to a bowl and whick in pepper, vinegar, oil and oregano. Pour dressing over chickpeas and let stand, stirring once or twice, for 30 minutes. Add all the chopped vegetables and herbs.

I actually made this one day ahead, and nobody got hurt.