I made smashed chick pea salad and ate it in a sandwich

Last night I left work exhausted and STARVING. All I wanted was to get home as fast as possible and make something quick and easy and satisfying that didn't require picking up too many groceries. Before leaving, I checked Smitten Kitchen, and this was the latest post. I had almost all the ingredients at home so I decided to give it a try.

It was perfect. All the things I wanted. Quick, easy, satisfying. And I had enough for lunch the next day. Here is the recipe with my notes:

Smashed Chickpea Salad

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons pitted, halved and very thinly sliced black olives
1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Zest and juice from half a lemon (I definitely used all the juice of both halves)
Couple good pinches of salt
A few grinds of black pepper
A few glugs of olive oil (the original is quite oily, like bread-soaking oily, I went a little lighter. Both ways are delicious)

Mix everything but the olive oil in a small to midsize bowl. Very lightly smash the chickpea mixture with the back of a fork or a potato masher. You’re not looking for a hummus-like puree but something closer to a coarse chop with a few smaller bits to hold it together. Add the glugs of olive oil, mix it lightly and enjoy. I don't own a potato masher, and I didn't find the back of a fork effective because those damn chick peas are so slippery, so I used the bottom of a can. Worked fine. As the recipe says, you don't really need to get them fully mashed.

This would have been fine alone on toasted bread, but Smitten had a few serving suggestions, like spreading tahini on the bread and layering some roasted red pepper. I put crumbled feta and sliced avocado on my sandwich.

This is Smitten's picture, not mine, as I was cameraless. But this is pretty similar to what it actually looked like. Just imagine avocado instead of red pepper:

This was a tasty but messy sandwich. Especially the one I packed for work the next day. A little awkward to eat at lunch with colleagues. Next time I make this I'm going to figure out a way to make it bind a little more. It also doesn't really need the bread--I had to stop myself from eating it straight from the bowl.