Chickpea Tomato Salad

The okra is ready and I am ready for the okra. This is the moment I've been waiting for since I planted the seeds in April — tall stalks with those dark green pods hanging like little lanterns, and if you pick them when they're small, three or four inches, they're tender and perfect, but if you wait too long they get woody and tough and then they're only good for soup. Timing is everything with okra. Timing is everything with most things.

I made fried okra three times this week, which Earl says is excessive and I say is just right. Monday's batch was for us. Wednesday's was for the community center kids — and sugar, you should have seen their faces. Most of these children have never had fried okra from a garden. They've had the frozen kind, maybe, or the mushy boiled kind that gives okra a bad name. But fresh okra, cornmeal-crusted and fried crispy? That's a conversion experience. The little quiet girl ate a whole plate and then looked at me with her eyebrows up, which is the most expression I've ever seen from her, and I said, "Yes, baby, there's more." Friday's batch was for choir practice, because nothing keeps Gladys from criticizing my singing like having her mouth full of fried okra.

Kayla had a rough week. She's overwhelmed — the summer class, the Piggly Wiggly, and she's been volunteering at a free clinic downtown on Saturdays because she says she needs the clinical hours and also because she is Kayla and she cannot sit still when people need help. She came home Thursday looking like somebody had wrung her out. I sat her down at the table and made her a plate — leftover chicken and rice, warmed up, with a side of garden tomatoes sliced thick with salt and pepper. Simple food. Recovery food. She ate and she didn't talk and I didn't make her, because sometimes the best thing a grandmother can do is put food in front of you and shut up.

After she ate, she said, "Grandma, do you ever get tired of taking care of people?" And I thought about it. I really did. Because the honest answer is complicated. I said, "Baby, I have been taking care of people since I was ten years old. I took care of my brothers and sisters when Mama was working. I took care of four hundred children every day for thirty-one years. I took care of your grandfather through a heart attack and I took care of you through losing your daddy. And yes, sometimes I'm tired. But the tired goes away. The love doesn't."

She didn't say anything. She just reached across the table and held my hand. And we sat there, grandmother and granddaughter, in a kitchen that smelled like fried okra and tomatoes and years, and I thought: this is what it's all for.

Now go on and feed somebody.

The tomatoes I sliced thick for Kayla that Thursday — salt, pepper, nothing else — reminded me that the garden gives you more than okra. When you’ve got good summer tomatoes, all they need is a little company, and this Chickpea Tomato Salad is exactly that: simple, honest food that comes together fast and fills a plate with color and something worth eating. I’ve been making it all summer alongside the fried okra, and it travels well to choir practice, to the community center, and to a granddaughter who needs a quiet meal and somebody who loves her.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (or 2 large ripe garden tomatoes, chopped)
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 oz crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Instructions

Prep the produce. Halve the cherry tomatoes (or chop larger tomatoes into rough 3/4-inch pieces) and slice the red onion as thin as you can manage. Drain and rinse the chickpeas well and pat them dry with a paper towel so they hold their texture.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Taste and adjust — it should be bright and a little sharp.
Combine. In a large bowl, toss together the chickpeas, tomatoes, red onion, and parsley. Pour the dressing over and toss gently to coat everything evenly.
Rest and taste. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes so the tomatoes release a little of their juice and everything comes together. Taste one more time for salt, then scatter feta over the top if you’re using it.
Serve. Serve at room temperature, right away or within a few hours. This salad is best the day it’s made, when the tomatoes are still holding their shape.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chickpea Tomato Salad — Because Garden Tomatoes Deserve More Than a Side Dish