My husband calls me “the girl of summer.” I find the moniker appropriate.
Not only am I, quite literally, a girl of summer – my *gulp* 30th birthday is coming up in just a few weeks – but, more than that, hot weather just makes me happy. I thought that it was the same for everyone, but it turns out, some people don’t like it when it’s so hot all you want to do is lie like a salamander and read for hours.
Go figure.
I get it in France, more than I do in the States. Here, air conditioning is a rarity; every pharmacy turning into a polar vortex the moment the temperatures climb above 70 is unheard of.
My brother asked me about the cultural difference a few weeks ago, when he was here to visit, and as we are wont to do, we extrapolated probably way too much, exploring the ways in which Americans always want to be perfectly comfortable, and French people, who have lower expectations, are more able to just kind of deal with what the world throws at them.
While it’s always fun to compare and contrast cultures, I’m not sure that it’s entirely true: the Americans in the expat groups that I belong to online spend loads of time complaining about the lack of A.C., begging for places they can go for air conditioning (the movies) and iced coffee (Starbucks). But my French husband is nearly as bad, keeping all of the shades in our house drawn all summer long to keep the indoor temperatures cool, even if it means missing out on the sunshine.
I, meanwhile, relish the heat and the sun, spending entire days outside in temperatures that most people would find downright unpleasant.
Of course, hot temperatures do mean that cooking has to be quick and painless. Once summer arrives in Paris, I do more assembling than cooking, tossing together more tomato salads than most normal people eat in a lifetime.
This salad is kind of the best of both worlds. Yes, you do have to turn on the oven, but the salad itself is easy to put together, and the dressing adds tons of brightness and flavor. It’s one of my favorite things to enjoy on our perfectly Parisian balcony in these first evenings of summer.
Roasted Vegetable Salad with Tahini Dressing (serves 2)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 handfuls fresh or frozen green beans
2 tomatoes, chopped
10 (or so) French breakfast radishes
1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the chickpeas with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and the spices, and arrange on half of a baking sheet. Toss the green beans with the other teaspoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and roast for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, assemble the tomatoes, radishes, and Romaine in individual bowls.
Whisk together the tahini, olive oil, and lemon juice. Add a bit of water if needed to make the dressing pourable. Season with salt and pepper.
Top the salads with the roasted vegetables. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.