Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Salad greens
• 6 red potatoes
• 10 spears of asparagus
• 2 medium sized carrots
• 2 TB olive oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper
• ½ cup of farro or barley
• 1 large / 2 small peaches or nectarines

Method

Start with a hearty salad green, like romaine (another popular one this time of year!) Rinse and chop, enough for two, and set aside.

In a roasting pan, chop red potatoes, asparagus, and carrots. Drizzle olive oil over everything. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Bake at 365 for 15 minutes.

Now, we’ll add some grains. I like to use a hearty salad grain like farro or barley. Add farro or barley into a saucepan. Farro needs less water, ¾ cup per ½ cup of grain. Barley cooks more like rice, a 1:2 ratio. Turn the heat to boil, once the water level begins to lower, simmer until water is gone.

After 15 minutes, pull out your roasting vegetables and add a seasonal fruit, i.e. peaches or nectarines. If the thought of mixing fruit and vegetables freaks you out, substitute a tomato. But trust me on this, it’s good. Bake for 10 more minutes.

After everything is baked, simply toss all together. You can add some fresh salad vegetables, like cucumbers, for an added freshness, or skip it if you’d rather not mix warm and cold. A light dressing works best here. I usually just add a bit more olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste, with a few squirts of lemon juice. The salad is hearty enough to serve as dinner with some bread or soup, or even by itself.

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Alisha Ebling is a writer, biker, vegan food consumer, and lover of all things book-related. You can find more of her writing on her website, or follow her @alishakathryn. View all posts by Alisha Ebling