Farmers Market Wednesday's

One of my favorite parts of summer is the farmers market every Wednesday across the street from my office on 2nd Ave. Each week gets better and better with more vegetable and fruits coming into peak season. I try to make a point of buying a vegetable that I've never cooked with before including arugula, tomatillos, parsnips and different varieties of peppers among other things. Some of my standard weekly purchases are tomatoes, corn, broccoli rabe, garlic, onions, blueberries, red potatoes, cucumbers and fresh loaves of sourdough bread. Sometimes I go a little overboard, especially since I need to carry all of this on my trek home to LB. While I've tried, it is impossible to hide the smell of fresh garlic and onion so to all my fellow commuters on the LIRR, I apologize!

I like to keep things simple and one of the best ways to use these vegetables is in a sandwich. I toast sourdough slices with a little oil brushed on both sides and then just layer vegetables. One of my favorite veggie combos is thinly sliced cucumber, avocado, onion, tomato and sprouts. While sometimes I spead a layer of (Sabra) hummus as the paste, lately I've been mixing a little horseradish with Grey Poupon. Horseradish gives anything a nice kick and the creaminess of the avocado mellows it out. I like the crunch of the cucumbers and the taste of raw onion. The tomato adds sweetness and the spouts add texture. It's so good! Maybe I'll try this with Veganaise someday?