To market, to market...

I never liked mornings as a teenager. On weekends, I'd surface near lunchtime, when the heat of a hot day had already kicked in, or the clouds on a coolish day had blown up and obscured the early morning sun that had held promise of a fine day.

Now I love early mornings. The sky seems washed clean, brighter and more fresh. All days promise well in the morning, even if they go off track later on. It's a time of quiet, as the city has not yet awoken and launched into the bustle of the day. Busy city laneways, like Degraves St, where you can barely move for the milling throng at lunchtime, are quiet havens. The smell of coffee and freshly baking muffins drifts around the laneway, as you dodge the baker and milkman making the day's deliveries. Many times I've enjoyed an early morning walk or run in brilliant sunshine, only to find it obscured by grey clouds within an hour or two, or the calm peace disturbed by squally winds that blow up later on.

One of my favourite places in Melbourne is the Queen Victoria Market. We're lucky to have such a treasure in Melbourne at all, let alone easily accessible in our CBD. Many's the time I've battled big crowds at the market on a mid-morning Saturday. Now I prefer to go in the early morning, arriving about 6.30am, when there are fewer people around. The market is pleasantly populated, with enough people to make you feel part of a communal activity, but not so crowded that you're dodging overloaded trolleys, big three-wheeled prams and meandering tourists while trying to check out what's fresh and best to buy.

First stop is the deli hall, where a compulsory purchase is the spinach and pinenut dip. Adam and I both adore this dip and it won't last long in our fridge. Other assorted deli items make their way into my little red jeep trolley: olives, pancetta, different types of cheese, Turkish bread, Polish sausages, dolmades, smoked salmon and big blocks of fresh Warrnambool butter. Then it's onto the meat and fish hall, where I'll wander the stalls to see what's on offer. I always stock up on fresh fish and seafood here, as I think the fish from this market is the freshest and cheapest in Melbourne. I often buy red meat and chicken here too but, as I'm blessed with a wonderful local butcher, I don't buy as much here as I could.

Last stop is the fruit and vegetable sheds. There's so much on offer that I spend a lot of time wandering up and down the various sheds before purchasing. Today, there's fire-engine red tomatoes from Murray Bridge that look particularly good. A plump eggplant will make smoky baba ghanoush, while a bunch of crisp asparagus will be delicious blanched and tossed in a salad with blue cheese and walnuts. Mounds of plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots look enticing. There's some leftover eggwhites in my fridge that will make little meringues that can be topped with whipped cream and a chopped assortment of these fruits.

By 7.30, my shopping is all done and it's time for coffee and breakfast and to plan for the rest of the weekend. There seems so many more hours in the day when you're an early riser!

Unexpected treasure

Sometimes you find a foodie treasure when you least expect it. There is a Middle Eastern grocery and fruit and vegetable store in my local shopping strip. It keeps late hours and is open seven days but I've never been a frequent shopper, instead using it mostly to pick up emergency supplies of milk or extra vegetables for dinner.

But lately I've started poking around in the shelves more and I've discovered a treasure trove of specialist ingredients that I thought I'd need to make a special trip across town to Sydney Rd to buy.

In the freezer section, I find bags of kataifi pastry, which looks like shredded fillo pastry and is used in Turkish and Greek cooking. I've recently collected a few recipes that require kataifi, so now I will be able to try them. On the shelf below the pastry are massive tubs of natural yoghurt, and smaller jars of haloumi cheese, as well as the usual staples of milk, cream and soft drinks.

In one row of grocery shelves, I find big jars of vine leaves and grape leaves next to tins of dolmades. Further along are bottles of rosewater, orange blossom water and sirop de roses (rose syrup). There's also bottles of varying sizes of another ingredient I have started noticing with increasing frequency in recipes: pomegranate molasses.

The shelves in the far corner are home to spices and pulses. The spices come in 500g bags and include cumin, zaatar, chilli, white pepper and turmeric. Next to the spices are one and two kilogram bags of beans and nuts such as mung beans, split fava beans, Canadian beans, kidney beans, dried black peas, fine and coarse burghul, pine nuts and almonds.

On the opposite shelf is some dried apricot paste, which I'm not sure what to do with, and some bags of an unidentifiable substance from Argentina. Around the corner are boxes of Turkish delight and chocolate. There is a shelf on the counter filled with baklava and there's also a section of hot nuts for sale.

My fingers are itching to fill up my shopping bag with all sorts of goodies but I limit myself to a bag of zaatar and a bag of coarse burghul. My favourite international food blog, Chocolate & Zucchini, recently featured the deliciously simple Zaatar Pita Chips, which I'm looking forward to trying. The burghul goes into a salad from Bill Granger's new book, Everyday Cooking.

BURGHUL SALAD

200g coarse burghul
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed
2 green chillies, finely chopped
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
large handful of parsley, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (or use 1 teaspoon of brown sugar)

Cover burghul with hot water and leave to stand for 15 minutes. Drain, pressing out as much water as you can. Mix the burghul, chickpeas, chilli, onions and parsley. Stir and refrigerate. Mix together the garlic, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses or brown sugar with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and serve.

Next time I make this salad, I'll add some cherry tomatoes, which I think will add extra texture and flavour.

Bill serves this salad with marinated lamb backstraps but I've also had it with steak and parmesan-crusted chicken, both of which partner very well. It is also delicious on its own for a quick lunch.

Salad recipe adapted from "Everyday Cooking" by Bill Granger