Garbanzo Chopped Salad

Lately I’ve
been in a state of food malaise, which is very rare for me. Salads,
which I often devour, have just seemed kind of blah. I think it’s
because lately I’ve been relying on packaged salads from Whole Foods or
the same thrown together mix of greens in between meetings and
activities. Last night, I was desperate to change up my salad routine
because I just couldn’t take the same old thing anymore. Low and behold,
Google searches for salad recipes resulted in meat-heavy dishes (is a
vegetarian salad a thing of the past?!) or super heavy dressings, so I
had to improvise, using a recipe from the O website as a baseline inspiration to explore. The result was pretty darn tasty- and sans meat or heavy dressing!

Garbanzo Chopped Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 c. olive oil, divded
1 c. canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp. sea salt, divided
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/8 tsp. chili flakes
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small shallot, finely chopped
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 English cucumber, sliced
1 large head romaine lettuce, washed and sliced
4 c. spinach, washed and chopped
2 c. arugula, washed and chopped
1/2 c. feta cheese crumbles

Directions
1)
Heat 6 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add garbanzo
beans and fry, stirring often, until crisp and golden, about 5 minutes.
Remove beans and place in bowl, sprinkling with chili flakes, 1/4 tsp.
sea salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Set aside.
2) 
In a large bowl, whisk vinegar, basil, oregano, garlic, shallot and
remaining oil, salt and pepper together until well mixed. 
3) Add lettuce, spinach, arugula, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and beans to the large bowl. Mix well. 
3) Top with cheese and serve.

In addition to
discovering a delicious new salad, I learned that garbanzo beans are the
same thing as chickpeas. Did you know that?!