Garbanzo, Arugula and Dried Fruit Salad

 

 

Okay, this sounds a bit nutty, but I had lunch at Matt's at the Market in Seattle's Pike Place about three years ago.  This salad was a side dish to my lamb, goat cheese, onion jam burger (yum!) and the salad was totally unexpected. At first, I just wasn't sure when I took a look at it, then I tasted it!  Fantastic, and so different. 

This one differs a bit from the original, because when I finally got around to making this salad, I only had 2-3 Tbsp of golden raisins (as the original salad had), so I decided to add a combination of dried apricots, cranberries and those raisins.  I must say, we totally loved this.

Tangy, crunchy, chewy, sweet and satisfying.You could also add cooked couscous to this salad to make it a bit more 'main course' like and filling, or even, quinoa.

Some of my friends might laugh at me, knowing I do not like balsamic vinegar too much.  My main dislike of it is that it turns everything brown!  In this dish, it DOES dull the colors a bit, but I think it tangy sweetness does add a great taste to the salad.

 (not pictured- celery )

Serves 6-8
Ingredients

2 cans Garbanzos, drained
1/2 red onion, chopped
2-3 Tbsp gold raisins
2-3 Tbsp dried cranberries, or cherries
2-3 Tbsp dried apricots, cut into quarters
1/2 cup celery, minced
2-3 cups arugula
2-3 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt& Pepper

Drain the garbanzos, add in the chopped onions, dried fruit (either a bit of each as shown above, or about 2/3 cup of one type), celery, arugula and parsley.  Add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Mix well.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Here is is before I added the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Next time, I might try it with the white balsamic vinegar to see if that helps keep the pretty colors in tact.