New Recipe for the Garden and Party-Season – Chickpea/Garbanzo Dip Cardinal Francesco Maria de Medici*

As it is summer and everybody is planing a garden party I wanted to post a recipe for a dip that is easy to prepare and most delicious and goes very well with crackers and a glass of red wine. Medici&More has a good reason for a garden party: the blog celebrates today its 2^nd anniversary. Funnily, or I´d better say sadly, it is right this day, July 14^th (Bastille Day, read more about here). In any case it is the most beautiful time of the year, and as summer is not the longest season if you happen to live in Middle Europe you´d better prepare a garden party right now.

For those who plan something bigger (a birthday or a wedding reception) get here an inspiration – we found Palace Wildon some weeks ago on a beautiful summer morning where they were tidying up after a wedding party that had took place the night before. The religious ceremony was held in the church Saint Magdalena nearby which is worth to be visited no matter if you are celebrating something or not.

• Recipe (serves 1 – 2)

• 1 jar chickpeas/garbanzo beans (must be organic!) or 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 ripe avocado
• ½ of an onion (I prefer the red or white as they are better to digest) – finely cut
• ½ red bell pepper – cut in tiny dices
• some tomatoes (fresh or/and dried) – sliced
• 1-2 tbsp mustard
• 2 tbsp Tapenade (= black olive paste, optional)
• salt, pepper
• a lettuce leaf
• parsley or basil leaves

Mix all ingredients with a hand blender or, if you want to have something to bite on, mash chickpeas/garbanzo beans and avocado with a fork and leave some pieces whole. Add mustard and Tapenade and mix with the other ingredients.

Serve with crackers, decorate on a lettuce leave with finely cut fresh herbs and enjoy with a glass of best red wine … or with a glass of best white wine … or with a glass champagne … – Find here another recipe from the last two years for your garden party. This salad is one of our favorites as the sauce is really the best ever (as the name promises).

The battered and fried sage (the readers of the blog will know how much we and the readers love sage) should be prepared an hour ahead. But: you need not serve it warm, it tastes cold also most delicious.

If you need an eye-catcher (who needs none?) try this recipe. It is a kind of salad for a cold buffet and can be prepared the evening before as it tastes very good when the vegetables are marinated. And: the marinated thinly sliced vegetables are better to handle than fresh ones.

This would be my dessert or any other fresh cream made of berries and bananas (mixed in a blender). May your party be a big success. – Happy birthday to everybody who celebrates it right now and happy birthday to Medici&More!

*Cardinal Francesco Maria de Medici was a brilliant member of the family who liked to have lavish parties at his residence in the hills of Florence.