GREEN GARBANZO SALAD: GLUTEN FREE, VEGAN

I'd only read about green garbanzos until visiting Chelsea Market's Manhattan Fruit Exchange.

Aren't they the cutest, fuzziest little guys?

And this is what they look like just after being briefly steamed. They taste a bit like edamame, very grassy and somewhat sweet.

They inspired the salad below. All but the lettuce came from the Exchange as well.

The Exchange has the freshness and variety of the Greenmarket without hustle and bustle!

The salad is made of these vegetables:

raw sliced baby turnips

raw sliced red and yellow (small, sweet) piquillo peppers

raw green leaf lettuce

steamed purple, red and white fingerling potatoes

steamed, shucked green garbanzo beans

I hardly ever dress my salads except to use a bit of balsamic vinegar.

With the creaminess of the potatoes, the salad was rich enough naked, at least for me.

Note: Thanks to Melissa Clark of the New York Times for inspiring me to eat raw turnips!