This post is in honour of the lady running my favourite stall at the Dom Markt. She's always friendly, seems to understand my faltering German, and always has a smile for me when I show up at 7am. She also seems to like the phrase "like Summer!" which applies to tomatoes, basil and cucumber. She's perfectly on the mark, because honestly, her vegetables are brilliant. There's a reason why I eat two cucumbers a week, and it has something to do with how delicious these particular cucumbers are.So, here's a couple of easy things that I do on a regular basis to make the most of the great produce from my favourite stall. The first is just a green salad with a simple dressing, and the second is a spelt tabbouli, into which I frequently mix kidney beans, in order to make a meal out of it. These are so good, and so easy, that I just eat them straight from the salad bowl. I seem to always make them at the same time, because they each call for a 1/2 tin of pulses and 1/2 lemon. It just makes sense, in my strange brain. And it really does taste like summer!
Green Salad
1/2 head of lettuce lettuce (I prefer oakleaf - it has the best texture!)
1/2 telegraph cucumber, or 2 lebanese cucumbers, sliced
1/2 tin red kidney beans or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Wash the lettuce thoroughly to remove sand and grit. Dry lettuce and tear into pieces.
Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Taste for seasoning, and don't skimp on the salt and pepper!
For an alternate dressing, mix 1 tbsp olive oil, 1tsp wholegrain mustard, and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar.
Spelt Salad
1 cup cracked spelt
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
1t tsp finely chopped or crushed garlic
1/2 tin kidney beans or chickpeas (optional)
1 tomato, diced (optional - I'm not big on raw tomato)
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Cook spelt in water until tender - about 20 minutes. Drain thoroughly and allow to cool slightly. (If your spelt is too hot, your parsley will discolour, but if you're eating it immediately, this salad is nice served a little warm).
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and eat!
Roasted vegetables are something I grew up on. My mother made fantastic roasted veg - although, when I was young, she had a slight reputation for burning the carrots. She eventually came to the logic that if she added them later to her especially chunky mix, they cooked to perfection and were completely devoured by her vegetable-loving child. I can't remember if my siblings ate them, but either way, my mother was the master of the oven. We were also partial to the sunday pork roast at my grandparents' house, but I think that had more to do with the crackling than the vegetables. In fact, I only remember that the beans were overcooked. I guess some things, like fighting for the crispiest crackling, or crimes against innocent green beans, stay longer in my memory than how well my nanna cooked her roast veg.
Roasted vegetables are incredibly easy to make. I use a minimum of oil, because while I adore olive oil, I don't think my waistline enjoys it quite so much. For an entire tray of vegetables, I used perhaps a dessertspoon. I gave it all a good mix with my hands, to ensure that everything was properly coated, and a sprinkling of salt. Pepper I don't add until later, because I don't want to risk it burning. Hard herbs, like fresh rosemary or thyme, can get added at the half-way point. 
There's no recipe to really give for something as simple as this. Just take the root vegetables of your choice (though I enjoy adding squash, such as crookneck or butternut, to the mix) and coat them in just enough oil. Roast them in a hot ove (mine was at about 240 degrees, but my oven is incredibly unreliable, so take that temperature with a pinch of salt!) for half an hour, turn them over, add your herbs (or not) and roast for another half an hour. Too easy.
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