Heirloom Tomato Salad with Chickpeas and Grilled Lemons
June 06, 2025
Elevating your salad is all about the details! This MIND Diet recipe quickly grills/chars the lemons to bring some bright sweetness and tart flavors to traditional Mediterranean ingredients. This salad will be a big hit no matter who you make it for!
This refreshing summer salad is bursting with brain-boosting nutrition. Kalamata olives and extra virgin olive oil deliver powerful polyphenols that combat oxidative stress. Spinach adds a dose of kaempferol along with lutein and zeaxanthin—nutrients that support both eye and brain health. Chickpeas round it out with magnesium, a key mineral for mood regulation. Quick to toss together and full of vibrant flavor, this dish makes a nourishing main or side for your next BBQ, or an easy, energizing lunch any day of the week.
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Chickpeas and Grilled Lemons
Pre-heat a grill pan or saute pan to medium high heat.
Slice one of the lemons into 4 or 5 rounds.
Put the lemon slices in the pan (no oil). Brown each side for 1 min. Set aside.
On a large plate or serving platter, evenly distribute the spinach, the top with tomatoes and olives.
Decoratively arrange the cucumbers then evenly sprinkle oregano (or zatar), dill, chickpeas and salt.
Drizzle with olive oil and the juice of 1/2 the remaining lemon.
Top with feta cheese if using. Arrange the cooked lemons on top for a beautiful garnish and to allow the juices to drip down into salad. Enjoy!
Recipe Note
Created by Laura Morris CPT and Jennifer Ventrelle RD
This recipe was created by Laura Morris, a multifaceted professional chef, certified nutrition consultant, and personal trainer, along with Jennifer Ventrelle, NeuroReserve medical advisor and a registered dietitian and Assistant Professor at Rush University. Jennifer is also the lead dietitian for major prevention studies like the U.S. POINTER Study on cognitive decline. Together they co-authored the published book ‘The Official MIND Diet’ – a comprehensive “instruction manual” on how to seamlessly integrate the MIND diet into our everyday lives. They have also created MIND Diet programs to help others make brain healthy living and eating a core piece of their routine, with step-by-step guidance. These delicious dishes and tools they created not only aid in reducing the risk of Alzheimer's but also support weight loss goals.
We at NeuroReserve are committed to equipping you with the diet and nutrition you need for lasting brain health. As you make progress with your diet, our product RELEVATE can help fill in the gaps where your diet falls short. RELEVATE is designed upon the framework of the evidence-backed Mediterranean and MIND diets, and includes 17 nutrients for long-term brain health. Click here to learn more about RELEVATE.
