Fall Chickpea Salad With Charred Chicories

I happen to LOVE grilled chicories. Late summer and early fall is one of my favorite times to cook, when chicories are in the farmers market but its still warm enough to cook outside. Italians' devotion to chicories is downright inspiring, whether grilled, sautéed, or eaten raw, the vegetables are paired with the right levels of salt, fat, and acid to tame the distinct bitterness and allow the complexity to shine through. This recipe was adapted from Asha Loupy's Grilled Chicory Salad with Chile-Fennel Dressing, where she combines grilled chicories with a spicy fennel dressing.  In our version we've taken down the heat of her spicy dressing by adding a bit of maple syrup and we've added lemony marinated chickpeas and salty crumbled feta to round out the charred chicories. Best of all, it's satisfying enough as a standalone dish.

Why This Recipe Works

What makes this salad so successful is how it balances the bitter chicories with complementary flavors and textures. The charring transforms the chicories from aggressively bitter to sweet and complex. The lemony chickpeas provide protein and brightness. The roasted delicata squash adds autumn sweetness. The chile-fennel dressing brings heat, aromatics, and silky richness. The crumbled feta contributes salty, tangy creaminess.

Each element plays a specific role in creating balance, the salt, fat, and acid that tame bitterness while allowing complexity to shine through. It's sophisticated salad-making that creates something "satisfying enough as a standalone dish" rather than just a side.

The Star: Chickpeas

Let's talk about chickpeas in this fall salad. Our chickpeas are tiny and intensely nutty, with a firm texture that holds up beautifully when tossed with lemon and olive oil while still warm.

What makes chickpeas perfect for this preparation is their size (they distribute evenly throughout the salad), their firm texture (they don't get mushy when dressed), and their nutty flavor (they complement rather than compete with the bitter chicories and sweet squash).

When marinated warm with lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, plus a couple spoonfuls of the chile-fennel dressing, the chickpeas become flavor bombs distributed throughout the salad.

About Chicories

Chicories are a family of bitter greens including radicchio, Belgian endive (both red and green), escarole, frisée, and more. Italians love them for their distinctive bitterness and complexity, flavors that Americans often find challenging but Italians celebrate.

The key to making chicories delicious is, as the recipe notes, "pairing with the right levels of salt, fat, and acid to tame the distinct bitterness and allow the complexity to shine through." That's exactly what this recipe does.

The recipe calls for 2-3 pounds of mixed chicories, Belgian endive (red and green) and/or escarole. Choose a mix for visual interest and varied texture and flavor.

The Charring Transformation

As Asha Loupy notes, "Something truly magical happens when you grill chicories." The high heat caramelizes their natural sugars, creating sweetness that balances the bitterness. The charred edges add smoky, complex flavors. The wilting softens the leaves while maintaining some structure.

The chicories get trimmed (keeping stems intact so sections hold together), halved or quartered depending on size, brushed generously with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and seared on all sides in a hot grill pan or heavy skillet until golden and slightly charred but still holding their shape.

This transformation is the heart of the dish, taking potentially challenging vegetables and making them delicious through proper technique.

The Chile-Fennel Dressing

The dressing is complex and builds flavor through careful technique:

1. Toast fennel seeds in a dry skillet until golden and fragrant (1-2 minutes)
2. Bloom garlic in hot olive oil for 30 seconds (fragrant but not browned)
3. Grind fennel, garlic, fresh chiles (with seeds for more heat), and salt in a mortar and pestle into a chunky paste
4. Macerate the paste in lemon juice for at least 10 minutes
5. Whisk in olive oil to create a silky, emulsified dressing

This process develops layers of flavor, toasted fennel aromatics, sweet bloomed garlic, fresh chile heat, bright lemon acidity, rich olive oil. The maceration in lemon juice mellows the raw garlic and chiles slightly while allowing flavors to meld.

A couple spoonfuls get added to the chickpeas, and the rest gets whisked with olive oil for dressing the assembled salad.

The Delicata Squash

Delicata squash is perfect for fall salads because its skin is edible (no peeling required), it's naturally sweet, and it roasts beautifully. Cut into quarter-inch half-moons, it creates attractive pieces that distribute well throughout the salad.

The squash gets tossed with olive oil, lemon zest, raw fennel seeds, minced garlic, salt, and pepper, then roasted at 350°F for about 30 minutes until fork-tender but not mushy, flipping halfway through.

The lemon zest and fennel seeds tie the squash to the other components, creating cohesion. The roasting concentrates the sweetness and creates slight caramelization.

The Assembly

The assembly is artful rather than just dumping everything in a bowl. Divide the charred chicories onto plates, then layer with roasted squash, lemony chickpeas, and crumbled feta. Give the dressing a final whisk and spoon it over everything to taste.

This layered plating creates visual appeal, you see all the components, the colors (green and red chicories, orange squash, tan chickpeas, white feta), and the textures. It's restaurant-quality presentation that makes the salad feel special.

The Feta

Crumbled feta provides essential salty, tangy creaminess that ties everything together. As the feta softens slightly from the warm chicories and squash, it creates little pockets of creamy richness throughout the salad.

Use good-quality feta, preferably sheep's milk feta that's creamy and tangy rather than dry and salty. The quality matters in a dish this simple.

The Italian Inspiration

The recipe opens by praising Italians' "downright inspiring" devotion to chicories. This salad exemplifies Italian cooking wisdom: take a challenging ingredient (bitter chicories), apply proper technique (charring), and balance with appropriate accompaniments (salt from feta, fat from olive oil, acid from lemon and dressing).

It's the kind of sophisticated vegetable cookery that Italian cuisine excels at, making vegetables the star rather than an afterthought.

A Standalone Dish

As the recipe notes, this is "satisfying enough as a standalone dish", it's not just a side salad. The chickpeas provide protein, the squash adds carbs, the chicories contribute volume and vitamins, and the dressing ties everything together with fat and flavor.

Serve it as a light main course with good bread, or as part of a larger spread of fall dishes. Either way, it feels substantial and complete.

The Asha Loupy Adaptation

This recipe is adapted from Asha Loupy's work, and her expertise shows in the techniques, the charring method for chicories, the mortar-and-pestle dressing that builds complex flavors, the thoughtful balancing of bitter, sweet, salty, fatty, and acidic elements.

Fall Perfection

This salad is perfect for fall when delicata squash is in season, when you're craving something substantial but not heavy, when you want vegetables but need them to feel satisfying. The charred chicories, roasted squash, and warming spices (fennel, chiles) feel right for cooler weather while still being bright and fresh.

*A Note On Our Recipes:

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.

Fall Chickpea Salad With Charred Chicories

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Category

Salad

Cuisine

Italian-Inspired

Italians' devotion to chicories is downright inspiring. This recipe was adapted from Asha Loupy's Grilled Chicory Salad with Chile-Fennel Dressing, where she expertly applies a high-heat method to bring out the natural sweetness of chicories.

 

Featured bean: Chickpeas

Author:

Lesley Sykes

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried Chickpeas

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• 6 tbsp lemon juice, divided

• Zest from 2 lemons, divided

• Extra virgin olive oil, divided

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• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

• 1 tbsp + ¾ tsp fennel seeds, divided

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled + 1 garlic clove, minced, divided

• 1 small serrano or fresno chile, finely diced (seeds removed)

• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

• 2 medium delicata squash, sliced in half lengthwise, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch half moons

• 2-3 lbs mixed chicories, such as red and green Belgian endive, radicchio and/or escarole

• Crumbled feta cheese

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Directions

1. Prepare the beans: Cook beans according to our guide in the cooking vessel of your choice. Once cooked, strain and toss with zest from 1 lemon, 2 tbsp lemon juice, a quick drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste (ideally while still warm).

2. Make the dressing: In a small skillet over medium heat, lightly toast 1 tbsp fennel seeds until golden and fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Pour into a mortar. Turn off the burner, and using the same (already hot) skillet, add a generous glug of olive oil and 2 garlic cloves, agitating constantly for about 30 seconds. Garlic should be fragrant but not browned. Pour into mortar with the fennel seeds and add chiles to mortar, along with ¾ tsp salt. Using a pestle, grind everything into a chunky paste. Put paste in a small bowl, add maple syrup and remaining 4 tbsp lemon juice, and leave it to macerate for at least 10 minutes (do not add olive oil yet). Remove a couple spoonfuls and add it to chickpeas. Then, whisk in ¼ cup olive oil.

3. Cook the squash: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, toss squash with a generous glug of olive oil, remaining zest from 1 lemon, remaining ¾ tsp raw fennel seeds, and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking, until fork tender, but not mushy.

4. Char the chicories: Meanwhile, trim brown ends of the stem (don't remove stem entirely or sections won't hold together while charring). Halve or quarter heads, depending on size, and brush generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and once hot, sear all sides until golden, a little charred, and cooked, but still hold their shape. Remove from heat and set aside.

5. Assemble and serve: Divide chicories onto 4 plates, layering with squash, chickpeas, and feta cheese. Give the dressing a final whisk and spoon over everything to taste.

Recipe Note

Serves: 3-4

Time: 60 minutes (plus bean cooking)

Cookware: Small skillet, mortar and pestle, large rimmed baking sheet, large grill pan or heavy-bottomed skillet, bean cooking vessel of your choice

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.