Chickpea Salad in a Jar

Chickpea salad in a jar with bell pepper and raspberry vinegar

The chickpea salad from Rue Traversette is a ready-made salad in a jar consisting of chickpeas, red bell pepper, and raisins, dressed with raspberry vinegar and olive oil. It was created in collaboration with Pierre Augé, the winner of Top Chef 2014.

Chickpea salad in a jar from Rue Traversette is a pre-dressed salad that you simply need to turn out onto a plate. Chickpeas form the base, red bell pepper adds color and summer sweetness, and raisins provide little bursts of sweetness. Fruity raspberry vinegar and olive oil create a dressing that tastes lighter than legume salads usually do.

Fruity, mild, and pleasantly fresh

In the jar, you can see everything individually: light chickpeas, red bell pepper pieces, and dark raisins in between. Nothing is cooked down into a mush, and the oil rests clearly on top.

The chickpea itself is mild and nutty; it carries the salad without being overpowering. The bell pepper adds sweetness and juice, the raisins a concentrated sweetness on top. Fruity, mild, juicy, and over it all lies the raspberry vinegar with its berry-like acidity, which keeps the salad fresh.

It is this combination of sweet and sour that distinguishes this salad from an ordinary chickpea salad. It is not made with cumin, but with fruit, which makes it significantly lighter.

The raspberry vinegar is the real secret here. It provides an acidity that is softer than that of wine vinegar, as well as an aroma usually associated with desserts. Fruity, juicy, and tangy, it meets the nutty chickpea, and the raisins act as a bridge between the two.

For hot days and grilled food

Among our antipasti and preserved specialties, this salad is the most practical because it requires zero effort.

On hot days, the chickpea salad in a jar is a meal in itself, served cold from the fridge with less than 5 minutes of work, perhaps topped with a few leaves of mint or flat-leaf parsley. It works well as a side dish for grilled food, lamb, and pan-fried fish, and it survives the morning in a lunchbox without any issues.

A spoonful of yogurt stirred in and a bit of lemon zest on top make it creamy and even a hint fresher. A drizzle of good olive oil on top never hurts either.

A recipe with Pierre Augé

This salad was created in collaboration with the Southern French chef Pierre Augé, and you can tell by the combination—one you wouldn't necessarily come up with on your own.

Pierre Augé was a finalist in the first season of Top Chef in 2010, returned in 2014, and won. Afterward, he triumphed three times in the "Choc des champions." In Béziers, he runs the family restaurant La Maison de Petit Pierre, where he cooks Mediterranean cuisine with a wink.

The salad is preserved in Saint-André-de-Sangonis in the Hérault region, where Stéphane Strobl has been running his cannery since 2015. Around ten people slice the ingredients by hand and pasteurize them gently, without preservatives, colorings, or artificial flavors. The two locations are less than 40 kilometers apart.

Take it out of the fridge fifteen minutes early

Take the jar out of the fridge fifteen minutes before eating, because when ice-cold, the olive oil solidifies and the fruitiness doesn't come through. Once opened, the salad keeps in the fridge for a few days. If you are looking for a heartier version, you can find it in the lentil salad in a jar, which comes from the same collaboration.