Lunch salad with thyme infused spelt

Are you going to start a veggie store?

Yep, I answered Mr. Eats, and I mixed all veggies together for this great Lunch salad with thyme infused spelt.

Cooking from scratch, without needing a recipe. That’s what I desperately wanted to do. To me, that was the real deal. That’s proper cooking, I thought.

But I couldn’t.

I needed recipes. Groceries lists. Hated that cookbook authors that said you need to cook a lot to get there. At that special place I couldn’t find the key for.

Since I’m in, I want to invite as many people as possible, knowing what a struggle it can be. I hope by telling you the little secrets, show how easy culinary techniques actually are, what flavors go well together and where my passion for food brings me that you’ll find the entrance a bit more easily.
If you’re already in, I just hope I can inspire you with my recipes.

Now, let’s talk shopping lists.

At the produce store, I did it different this week. In the old days, I made a grocery list in advance. Looked up recipes that I wanted to make and bought everything (well ..) I needed for them. Nowadays I go there and make up a plan by looking at the veggie overload and get inspired that way. This time, I just loaded my bag with all these veggies that had Spring written all over them. Needless to say I overloaded my bag, hence Mr. Eats remark!

Small white zucchinis that fitted in the palm of my hand.
A lovely bunch of watercress.
That solid fennel with its waving fronds.
Turnips that are called white but have a beautiful purple head.
Green asparagus that now are getting a little bit thicker and better to keep fresh.
Small, firm red beets with their fresh leaves.
Those beautiful watermelon radishes, which name you totally get when you cut ’em open.
And I couldn’t resist the fresh garbanzo beans either.

I dropped them in my veggie drawer and waited for inspiration to come. Which came quick, knowing that a lot of root vegetables can be eaten raw and that was exactly what I wanted for lunch!

Yup, red beets can be eaten raw. You need the freshed brightest beets you can find, preferably with their leaves still on. Cut the leaves off when you’re at home to keep both beets and leaves longer fresh. Don’t use the darker colored beets that are meant to save for a longer time, those need to be cooked.

Lunch salad with thyme infused spelt [vegetarian | vegan]

The inspiration for this salad wasn’t hard to find. I just looked in my fridge’s veggie drawer. I took all root vegetables out, cleaned en shaved them in paper thin slices. Together with some spelt, it turned out a great and easy lunch that kept me filled for the entire afternoon. You can vary along with all kinds of root vegetables, as most of them can be eaten raw.

You need for 1:
1/8 cup of spelt
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2-3 leaves of butterhead lettuce
1 small white zucchini
1 small red beet
1 small watermelon radish, or 2-3 normal radishes
1 small (rainbow) carrots
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper

You do:
Cook the spelt. Toast it with the olive oil in a small pan, just a few minutes. At stock and thyme and let cook until done on low heat (approx. 20 min.). You might need to add some more water/stock.

Base the salad. Clean the lettuce leaves and put them in a soup plate. Sprinkle some olive oil over it.

Shave the root vegetables. Clean all other vegetables, if needed. With a mandoline or peeler slice them in very thin slices. Or use your knife to make slices the thinnest shaves you can.

Mix all veggies, the extra olive oil, salt and pepper and put on top of your lettuce.
Or do it like I did it: I just draped all veggies by their sort on the lettuce with the spelt in its mids (my pic on instagram), and nibbled my way through this salad while typing the recipe.

Tip: When eating them raw, you notice each veggie has their own. pronounced flavor. From sweetness of the carrots, slightly bitterness in the lettuce to the earthy beets and pungent radishes. Not to overpower these special flavors, I didn’t felt for adding vinegar or other freshmakers like a dot of yogurt.

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Do you want more great (lunch) salads? Or recipes with beets? Zucchini maybe? Just click on the words. Or view all my (vegan, vegetarian) recipes here.