Marinated Celery Salad with Chickpeas and Parmesan

This was delicious. The dressing is not all that different from my usual salad dressing - after learning to make the dressing in the bottom of the same bowl I plan to mix the salad in, I've been far likelier to make my dressing at home since it doesn't dirty any extra bowls, and it can be quickly adjusted to go with whatever salad ingredients I'm planning to use. I'd say the croutons are really not optional in this, as they provide well-needed crunch so the salad isn't too one-dimensional.

Marinated Celery Salad with Chickpeas and Parmesan

Adapted from the NYTimes

Ingredients

FOR THE SALAD:

• 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, more as needed
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon honey or maple syrup
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed
• 4 cups cooked or canned chickpeas
• 4 large or 6 small celery stalks, with leaves, cut into large julienne
• 2 large scallions, white and pale green parts, thinly sliced on a diagonal, or 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1 to 2 cups loosely packed celery leaves, coarsely chopped 
• 1 pint small tomatoes, halved
• ¼ cup loosely packed basil leaves, rolled and julienned (optional)
• 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, coarsely grated, or crumbled feta

FOR SERVING (OPTIONAL):

• 1 small loaf (or 1/2 large loaf) day-old, peasant-style crusty bread

Method 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, honey/maple syrup and a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Drop in garlic cloves, stir, and set aside 15 to 30 minutes (or 5 minutes, in my case, as I'm still not sure I like raw garlic flavor) to let the flavor infuse.
2. (If you're me, you pull out garlic cloves now.) Gradually whisk in oil; dressing will emulsify. Mix in chickpeas, celery and scallions. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
3. Remove garlic cloves from dressing (unless they're already long gone...). Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Set aside to come to cool room temperature.
4. If desired, make croutons, for serving: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Pull the soft bread out of the center of the loaf, leaving most of the crust behind, and tear bread into bite-size pieces. You should have about 3 cups. Spread pieces on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes, until golden and crisp; let cool. (I often use bolillo rolls to make croutons - it's a good shortcut.)
5. Just before serving, mix tomatoes, basil and croutons, if using, into the salad, then top with cheese and more black pepper.