Delicious by Bike - Winter Broccoli & Chickpea Salad
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 10:59AM Aliye and her daughter Elizabeth
Did you know the greater Long Beach area has its own organic and sustainbly grown produce delivery service? I feel very fotunate to have beachgreen's bike riding proprietress Aliye Aydin as a gourmet resource when I'm challenged for healthy and delicious eating ideas as I am during the winter holiday season.
"Winter salads can sometimes be challenging," Aliye admits, "when the familiar tomato and cucumbers are no longer in season at the market. Try this refreshing hearty salad for an everyday dinner, or a special holiday occasion."
Broccoli & Chickpea Salad
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Instructions:
Set a pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, combine scallion or onion, fennel, orange zest and salt in a salad bowl. Using a pestle, or back of a wooden spoon, muddle the ingredients around until they start to break down. When water has come to a boil, add broccoli, and cook until bright green, and starting to soften. Drain and immediately run under cold water to stop cooking. Drain well, being sure to get off as much water as possible. Toss with onion/fennel/orange mixture, along with the chickpeas, and add juice of the orange, and olive oil, to coat. I used sumac to sprinkle, but this is optional. Adjust seasoning for salt and pepper.
About Aliye's Child-Friendly Bike-Friendly Life
"My daughter Elizabeth and I have been riding together since she was about 18 months old. At first she didn't really like to ride (have you ever tried riding with a screaming baby on the back of your bike?), but now at age three, she asks to go for rides.
We tend to ride on weekends, often to downtown Long beach with Dad to have a family night out. It feels great to leave the car at home, get some exercise, and just park our bikes right outside the restaurant or movie theater. We taught her early on that wearing a helmet was important, and now she's adamant about Mom and Dad wearing theirs too (she loves her train helmet in the photo).
I started riding my bike as a means of transportation back in college, when I was living in Berkeley, California. I started with buying a mountain bike, because that's what my roommates were doing, but I soon discovered that really wasn't for me. I enjoyed riding to and from class and around town. I am currently researching the idea of implementing bikes as part of the delivery service for my produce home delivery business, beachgreens. How cool would it be if your weekly fruits and vegetables were delivered to your door via bike?!"
About Aliye Aydin & beachgreens
For beachgreens founder Aliye Aydin her Turkish heritage and love of travel have deeply influenced her passion for food, as did the frightening diagnosis of chronic kidney disease at age fifteen. From that time forward she has dedicated her life to the deep understanding of the growing, cultivating, distributing and preparing of the best and healthiest of what nature has to offer.
Now over fifteen years later, and completely free of kidney disease, Aliye feels the diagnosis helped direct her career path. She studied nutrition at U.C. Berkeley, trained as a chef at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health in Manhattan, and recently received a “Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship” from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle, a school on the forefront of teaching sustainable business practices through its MBA program.
Aliye has also worked on organic farms around the country, in restaurants, as a personal chef and caterer, and as a cooking instructor. In her hometown of Long Beach California she worked to develop a network of community and school gardens with the local non- profit Long Beach Organic prior to starting beachgreens in 2007. Learn more at www.beachgreens.com.