A Good Dish

making food simpler

A Sweet, Crunchy Alternative To A Routine Tossed Salad–Fennel With Pear & Walnuts

Fennel salad with pear and walnuts
Porcelain bowl by The Bright Angle

Fennel fronds, as we recently discovered, make a wonderful pesto. Did you wonder what I did with the fennel bulbs I had left after trimming all the fronds? I like sautéed and roasted fennel but since fresh local lettuce is harder to find as the days get shorter, I decided to use the fennel for salad.

My usual fennel salad is a toss of many vegetables. It is reliable and keeps well for several days. This week I didn’t have a lot of vegetables in my fridge but I did have a bag of lovely Bosc pears. I added some celery and walnuts and tossed the whole thing with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was so good that my husband and I couldn’t stop eating it! Fortunately, with two bulbs of fennel in the mix, even our enthusiastic chow down left us enough for another meal.

Pear and walnuts
complement the fennel

Fennel is actually quite nutritious, full of fiber and potassium (to balance sodium). It has a good crunch and can keep well in the fridge for almost a week until you find time to use it. It might even taste better on the second day. I kept the ingredients pretty basic but you could tart it up with some orange segments or chopped apple instead of pear or toss in some dried cranberries or raisins. Add Parmesan or some variety of blue or goat cheese to make a whole meal out of this salad if you like, but it is pretty good all on its own.

Fennel salad
Porcelain bowl by The Bright Angle

REALLY EASY FENNEL SALAD

Combine in a large bowl:

  • 2 bulbs of fresh fennel, quartered lengthwise, cored and thinly sliced
  • 1 cup raw or lightly toasted walnut pieces
  • 2 pears, preferably Bosc, cored, quartered and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley

Mix together:

  • 3 TBs balsamic vinegar
  • 3 TBs olive oil
  • Big pinch each of salt and pepper

Pour dressing over vegetables, toss and serve.

This salad will keep refrigerated for 3 or 4 days.

Try Flageolet Beans For A Cold Main Course Salad – Just Right For A Hot Summer Day Meal Plus Leftovers

Flageolet bean salad
Hollow rectangular earthenware bowl
by Jerilyn Virden/Borealis Studios

When it is really hot out, as it has been and is likely to be for some weeks, I try to plan ahead and stock my refrigerator with cold bean salads. Why beans? Not only are they nutritious, inexpensive, full of fiber and shelf stable but they take on the flavor of whatever vinaigrette you use on them. My new favorite beans, flageolet, are a beautiful pale green and, although best known as a French side dish to lamb, they make a delicious bean salad. When soaked and simmered, flageolets hold their shape, probably the same reason they work so well in cassoulet-type dishes. I love their nearly celadon color before cooking, the creamy texture of the cooked beans and their ability to take on the flavor of almost any herb. They are sturdy enough to soak in a vinaigrette for a couple of days, after which they are most flavorful. And when you tire of the beans, which I never do, you can simply purée them, with their dressing, to make a dip.

These were delicious but
any white bean could work

To make my first flageolet salad, I followed the recipe from Rancho Gordo (one of the best things about ordering from them, besides how really fresh the beans are, is that they offer recipes for each ingredient they sell)) for a lemon vinaigrette with fresh thyme and garlic and ramped it up, using more garlic and juice plus the zest, adding chopped rosemary and fresh basil. If you are a lover of tarragon, you could use it for the herb, but not me, never. I added green olives for salinity, and to keep to the color scheme, but black olives would work fine.  If you can’t find flageolet beans, any white bean, like navy, great northern or even cannellini, could substitute, even if they won’t be as creamy. When we ate the beans the second day, I tossed in some chopped roasted red pepper to add volume and sweetness. I served it with a grain and balsamic tomatoes and cucumbers but just a green salad would have been sufficient.

Olives add flavor and texture
Olive dish by Jerilyn Virden

Like most bean dishes, this one is adaptable to your preferences and the ingredients you have available. If you see a cooler day in the forecast, soak the beans the night before and cook the beans in the morning, before it gets too hot. Then you can make the rest of the salad the next day to keep in the fridge for a couple of days for when it is too hot to cook. We had this salad on a day in the nineties and it was cool, filling and flavorful, a winning trifecta in my home. If you just can’t bear turning on your stove at all, open a couple of cans of white beans for this recipe and you’ll have a main course to chill in your fridge in no time.

Lemony flageolet bean salad
Earthenware bowl by Jerilyn Virden

FLAGEOLET SALAD

Whisk together:

  • 2 cloves garlic, grated or pressed
  • Zest of one lemon, about 1TBs
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2-3 TBs bean cooking liquid, optional
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1TBs rice vinegar (ume plum or sherry vinegar would work, too)
  • 1TBs fresh thyme leaves (stripped off stems) or 1 tsp dried
  • 1/2 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

Place in a large bowl:

  • 6 cups cooked flageolet beans (about 1 lb dry)
  • 1/4 cup green olives, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
  • Handful of fresh basil leaves, torn or cut in ribbons

Pour vinaigrette over bean mixture and gently toss. Serve or refrigerator until ready to use. Serves 6.

Optional add-ins:

  • Roasted red pepper, chopped
  • Fresh bell or Jalapeno pepper, diced
  • Fresh radish, finely diced
  • Cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
  • Grated Parmesan
  • Celery, diced or very thinly sliced
  • Capers
bottom (verso) of olive dish
by Jerilyn Virden
Water lilies

A Tasty Main Course Salad You Can Make From Pantry Supplies With An Unlikely Ingredient – Sardines

“Pantry” salad with chips
Glazed porcelain plate by Doug Peltzman

I’ve never liked sardines but I finally found a way to eat them other than holding my nose and swallowing. In fact, I think I like this sardine recipe even more than tuna salad (which I don’t eat anymore because of the high mercury content). Before I tell you how I prepared the sardines, let me tell you a few reasons for even bothering to eat them. First of all, sardines with bones are among the healthiest of all fish for us because they are small and low on the food chain (not having ingested lots of toxins like larger fish), high in omega-3 fatty acids (the kind that may prevent cardiovascular disease) and provide us with high quality protein and easily absorbable forms of calcium and vitamins B12 and D. Sardines are always on the list of sustainably sourced fish and they are often canned in olive oil, one of the healthiest oils, or just in water. And, right now during this pandemic, they are a readily available source of fish and can be ordered.

Wild tinned sardines are a widely available and inexpensive source of fish

Some people like sardines out of the tin on a buttered cracker or toast. I can manage that if I have to but never found it delicious. I would have to add equal parts butter to the sardines but then they wouldn’t be at all healthy anymore. My parents used to eat them with vinegar and chopped onion but I’ve never loved raw onion so never adopted that version. Not unlike my recipe for tinned salmon salad, I mix rinsed sardines with a long list of ingredients which is flexible and ever-changing. If you don’t have or really can’t stomach sardines, this recipe will improve your tinned tuna, mackerel or salmon, probably even mashed beans. Chopped toasted almonds would be good in place of sesame seeds and if you don’t have fresh dill, use dried or try thyme or cilantro or just parsley. If you prefer mayo to yogurt, use it or just use mustard. If you don’t have or want to use Parmesan, use cottage cheese or Cheddar or leave out the cheese altogether.  Should you only have one tin of sardines, you could beef up the salad with a cup of cooked beans or a hard-boiled egg or two. You can use just lemon or pickle juice (or substitute vinegar) but I think both makes for better flavor. I didn’t have pickles so I used olive brine this time. If you want to toss in some chopped pickles, carrots, jicama or peppers, a spoonful of relish or some chutney, you would only be adding layers of flavor. In my mind the whole purpose is to tame the fishiness (yes, I said it) of the sardines. I think it works! Let’s make up another name, like Pantry Salad, to make it more appealing. When it gets hotter this summer, you won’t have to turn on the stove to make this. Serve as a sandwich, with crackers or alongside a shredded carrot, green or fennel salad and you’ll have a satisfying, inexpensive and tasty lunch or dinner by just shopping in your pantry and refrigerator.

This tasty salad goes equally well with crackers or bread or a vegetable salad
Porcelain plate by Doug Peltzman

PANTRY SALAD

Mash the contents of 2 tins sardines with bones (3 small headless fish in each 4.375 oz tin)and mix together with:

  • 2 TBs plain Greek yogurt
  • 2-3 TBs grated Parmesan
  • 2 TBs Dijon mustard
  • 1 TB lemon juice
  • 1 TB pickle juice
  • Zest of one lemon
  • 2 TBs chopped fresh dill (or 2 tsps dried)
  • 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1-2 chopped scallions or 1 TBs finely minced red onion
  • 1 TB relish, capers or chopped olives or pickles, optional

Top with toasted sesame seeds or chopped toasted almonds and parsley

Porcelain plate verso by Doug Peltzman
(It even has a hole through the foot foot for hanging on a wall)
Tree Peony

Don’t Panic-Prepare! What To Do Now To Get Food Ready In Case You’re Stuck Home

Freshly made chimichurri
Earthenware bowl by Ayumi Horie

The current threat of an epidemic of coronavirus has sent consumers into a shopping frenzy. Drugstores in our neighborhood have been sold out of Zinc lozenges and Clorox wipes for days. And if you shop evenings at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, whole shelves have been depleted of rice, pasta, canned beans and soup. I’ve seen cases of water and toilet paper being delivered to apartments in volumes that indicate people are scared the supply chain is about to break. Even Amazon is sold out of Cold-Eeze and Purell! 

Whole Foods on Columbus Avenue yesterday

Worrying can’t help you but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared without hoarding or panicking. Carla Lalli Music published a thoughtful post in Bon Appetit on what to stock up on in case of quarantine. Her list includes the usual suspects – rice, beans, pasta, tinned fish, soup, tomatoes, olive oil, coffee, nut butter, dried fruit and frozen vegetables – as well as others that you might not have thought of – fermented vegetables, butter, miso, yogurt, eggs, flour, coconut milk and hard cheeses. I keep a pretty well stocked pantry ordinarily but I admit I doubled up on some of these items just in case. And I am not even sure what I mean by just in case – a gap in the supply chain or stores being closed? Although it seems unlikely, it is possible we will get sick or quarantined. If so, I have staples (and our usual shelves full of various bottles of wine and liquor, for medicinal purposes, of course), and it wouldn’t hurt for you to do the same. What is the downside of stocking up? Perhaps you won’t have to shop for a few weeks.

Homemade applesauce Maiolica bowl by Stanley Mace Andersen

You don’t really need me to tell you how to handle this situation but here are a few suggestions. Ahead of any quarantine, make yourself (or buy) some pesto (without basil, use kale or arugula), chimichurri, kimchi, applesauce, sauerkraut and stock. Those can either be frozen or will last in the fridge for many weeks. If you do get stuck at home, here are some reminders/recipes of what you can prepare without a lot of fresh foods. With some cabbages, carrots, beets and fennel in your fridge, you can easily make fresh salads for quite some time. If you have onions, garlic, herbs and spices along with lentils, beans and grains, you can make lentil or bean soups, grain salads or bowls, rice and beans, lentil or bean chili, fried rice and curries of all sorts. With a bag of flour, you can make bread, pizza or pasta (you’ll have plenty of time). Store some seeds and oats in your larder and you can make hot cereal (some fruit spread and nuts will help), granola and crackers indefinitely. And with eggs and cheese in your fridge, there are omelets, frittatas and lasagna in your future. Great if there is no quarantine – you’ll have plenty of prepared foods to eat for weeks!

Curried Lentil Soup
Porcelain bowl by Andy Brayman

Most importantly, as all the news sources say, try to boost your immune system with healthy eating, exercise and supplements, wash your hands often and keep those hands away from your face. No one can tell yet whether warm weather will help diminish the virus but we’ll hope so. Of course, the best outcome would be containment. But as our very smart pediatrician told me, some contagion is inevitable but building your health and being prepared is do-able.

Rice pasta with pesto and arugula
Bowl by Silvie Granatelli

A Healthy Birthday Celebration and a (Kale)Variation of a Greek Salad

Kale Greek Salad
Porcelain Bowl by Nick Moen at The Bright Angle

My mother had a big birthday this summer and it needed celebrating. We had done both small and large parties in the past and no one, including my mother, was up for that again. A short but special trip seemed like a good solution. I rented a car, picked her up in Connecticut and we drove north to Kripalu, an educational yoga center and retreat in the Berkshires.

View of the Stockbridge bowl and Berkshires over the Kripalu lawn

Kripalu is located in a former monastery and the rooms are nothing to write home about, but  you don’t go to Kripalu for the rooms. You go for the classes, the treatments, the pervasive zen feeling of the place. While we were there, Mom took an introductory yoga class, a fairly wild yoga dance session, attended several informative and relevant lectures, had three different kinds of massage and walked the beautiful grounds which overlook the rolling green hills and the placid waters of the Berkshire Bowl. But I am certain that her favorite part of our time there was spent at the 3 times daily healthy meal buffets!

So many veggies on the Kripalu Buffet!

My mother was an early adapter of healthy eating. In the 70’s, she started attending Nathan Pritikin’s longevity programs and we all learned about brown rice, legumes and eating less meat and cheese. So while some people would flinch at the healthy, primarily vegetable, grain and bean offerings at Kripalu, Mom was thrilled. She wanted to taste every dish and some days I think she succeeded. I must admit part of what is so relaxing about the Kripalu buffet is that you don’t have to ever think about what you are going to eat but know there will always be something fresh and tasty. It takes a big piece of stress out of vacationing.

Abundant portion of lunch at Kripalu

One of the best tasting cold dishes I remember from this trip was a greek salad. Fortunately, a version of this recipe with kale was published in the new The Kripalu Kitchen: Nourishing Food for Body and Soul by the current chef, Jeremy Rock Smith. It is especially useful now if you are craving a greek salad but feeling a little squeamish about using Romaine lettuce with all the bacterial scares. I tried arugula when we were out of kale and liked it, too, but the kale offers a more satisfying chew . If you do make it with kale (lacinato or dinosaur only, please), be sure to massage it with the dressing to help break down the vegetal fibers and to make it both more digestible and palatable. Other additions that could work in this salad are avocado, nuts or seeds, artichoke hearts, sliced celery, shredded carrots, chopped parsley or even leftover pasta. I didn’t have fresh oregano so I used dried and it was fine. And I don’t like to add raw onions to a salad so I marinated them in a tablespoon of wine vinegar which I think improved the whole dish.  And you could serve all of the additions (other than the kale) in separate dishes for people to add in as they please so that everyone gets the salad they want.

The new Kripalu cookbook is full of tasty vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian recipes such as Kitchari (a soothing Ayurvedic rice and bean dish), roasted harissa cauliflower, polenta with mushroom sauce, pan-roasted pollock with chimichurri, pea, leek and potato cakes and the Kripalu house dressing with tahini and tamari. I look forward to trying many but for now, while we still have no oven, I will be making my adaptation of their greek salad over and over this summer and remember our lovely days in the Berkshires. Happy Birthday, Mom and I hope you are out walking soon!

Kale Greek Salad
Porcelain Bowl by Nick Moen at The Bright Angle

Kripalu Kale Greek Salad, adapted from The Kripalu Kitchen

  • 2 TBs fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Pinch each kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 TBs chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
  • 6-8 loosely packed cups thinly cut strips (chiffonade) lacinato kale (1 generous bunch, stripped away from center rib)
  • 1 cup sliced or diced cucumber (about 2 Persian or Kirby)
  • 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup bite sized slices of red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup very thinly sliced red onion, marinated in 1TBs red wine vinegar
  • 4-6 ozs feta cheese
  • 8-10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
  • 1/4 cup raw pine nuts or walnuts (optional)

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano

Add the kale, coat completely and use your hands to massage the dressing into the kale.

Just before serving, add all the other ingredients and toss.

Serves 4-6

Happy Birthday, Mom!