Perfect Tuna Salad without the Tuna

Do you like canned tuna? I used to love it. My mother would make the most wonderful tuna salad that I could eat by the bucket-fulls when I was younger, but the older I've become, the more and more I dislike canned tuna. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE fresh tuna: sushi, sashimi, seared, any way you can think of ... except for canned. Because I have such good memories of the tuna salad my mother made I always end up trying to recreate it and I always use canned tuna. However, I can't ever get it right and my confidence in my tuna salad-making abilities withers away. I've all but given up.

Tonight, I had a breakthrough! I made a wonderful salad perfect for toast, wraps, on crispy greens, on crackers, or any other way you can think of. The breakthrough you ask? Get rid of the tuna and replace it with chickpeas! Yes, you read that correctly... chickpeas. I love chickpeas and with the variety of ways they can be prepared I could probably eat them everyday and never get tired of them. This chickpea salad was so great! Light and a little bit unexpected, but creamy, satisfying, and perfect. This will from now on be my go-to salad for sandwiches. Sorry, canned tuna, I'm leaving you and not looking back.

Chickpea Salad
Makes 2 sandwiches, or 2 servings

1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 very small onion, finely diced
1 small rib celery, diced
1/4 cup mayo
1 tablespoon yogurt
1 tablespoon grain mustard
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 fat pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

Put the chickpeas in to a bowl and mash them. You can mash them as little or as much as you want (or, you could even put them in a food processor if you want them completely smooth). I mashed them about 'half way', keeping about 1/2 of the chickpeas whole.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything well to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

I toasted a bit of wheat bread and piled up the salad to make a sandwich. It was fabulous!

I am so happy with this I could eat it tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after... no joke. I can't wait to have it again.

And don't be too upset over the breakup, canned tuna. My husband loves you and will definitely keep you around for a long-lasting relationship :)

Happy Eating!