It had been too long since my friend Andi and I had been able to sync up our schedules to spend any time together. We had picked up the habit of seeing each other or at least talking on the telephone daily. But then our work intervened and our habit became interrupted. At last, last Saturday night we got together. Originally, we had planned to have dinner at my house, but then we decided to go to see The Help since we both had read the book. So, instead of preparing a full blown mean, she suggested we have snacks after the movie. That meant a little meal or as the french call it un maigre repas.

I took this as a challenge and an opportunity to find some new things to cook. Since we wouldn’t eat until 10 p.m., I decided to make a couple things that didn’t need to be cooked and could be assembled in 15 minutes. Salads were the ticket. Andi’s husband, Marion, was with us and he is sort of a typical man in the food sense who likes meat, rice etc, but I decided to throw caution to the wind.

I found two recipes that I thought would provide enough sustenance and taste good. I made a chick pea salad and watermelon and orange salad. Those two dishes along with a nice hunk of cheese with crackers, and bottle of pinot noir capped off the evening nicely. And, I think Marion was satisfied

The chick pea salad recipe I found on the Epicurious website and the watermelon one I found in the Martha Stewart magazine, Everyday Food.

The chickpea salad

1 15 ounce can of chick peas, rinsed and drained

2 Tbl of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 Tbl of minced basil leaves

2 Tbl of minced parsley

1 Tbl spoon of olive oil

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

It’s easy. Place the chick peas in a bowl and add in the other ingredients and stir

Watermelon, orange and feta salad

3 cups of watermelon cut into bite size pieces

1 seedless orange with pith removed and cut into bit size pieces

1/3 cup of crumbled feta

2 Tbl of chopped parsley

1 Tbl olive oil

Arrange the fruit on a plate and then sprinkle the feta cheese over it. Drizzle the olive oil on top and then add the parsley. This dish looks like a pile of precious jewels.