A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great (11 page)

BOOK: A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great

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Spinach Salad with Roasted Fennel, Oil-Cured Olives, and Grapefruit

SPINACH
SALAD WITH
ROASTED FENNEL,
OIL-CURED OLIVES, AND GRAPEFRUIT
SERVES 4

I champion the use of fennel in any form, but it’s hard to top roasted fennel. Roasting brings out its natural sweetness while concentrating its anise flavor. You can roast the fennel as long or as little as you like; it’ll be just as good slightly roasted or cooked to brown crispiness. While I could easily eat roasted fennel like candy, tossing the warm wedges with raw spinach makes a compelling salad with a contrast of temperature and texture in every bite. The oil-cured black olives are a key element: They’re really full-flavored and add a nice hit of salinity to the zing of grapefruit and the sweet, mellow licorice flavor of the roasted fennel. I like to cut the grapefruit into suprêmes, whole segments without the membrane. If you want to go a simpler route, cut the grapefruit in half across the equator, run your knife around the entire perimeter between the peel and the fruit, and then scoop out the grapefruit segments with a spoon or knife.
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1 large fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, and each half cut lengthwise into 8 to 10 thin wedges

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 pink grapefruit

8 ounces baby spinach (about 6 loosely packed cups)

½ cup halved and pitted oil-cured black olives

1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

2
Toss the fennel wedges with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Roast until they’ve softened and the edges are browned and crispy, about 30 minutes.

3
Meanwhile, use a Microplane or fine grater to grate the grapefruit zest into a bowl. Using a sharp knife, slice a thin piece of peel off the top and bottom ends of the grapefruit so it sits flat on the cutting board. Peel the grapefruit, following the curve of the fruit, to remove all the white pith and the membrane covering the fruit. Working over another bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the segments. Juice what’s left of the grapefruit into the bowl with the segments.

4
In a large serving bowl, combine the spinach, olives, grapefruit segments (not the juice yet), and zest. As soon as the fennel is finished roasting, add it to the bowl along with about 2 tablespoons of the reserved grapefruit juice and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

Warm Vegetable Salad

WARM VEGETABLE
SALAD
SERVES 4

This is a really tasty salad that you can adapt to whatever vegetables are in season. At Hearth, I make this in July when every variety of summer squash is happening, and I can find a boatload of varieties of pole beans, like green and yellow Romano beans (they look like large, flat green beans) and green, yellow, and purple string beans. If you want to go fancy with this, add more varieties and colors of zucchini, yellow squash, and string beans. You can also rely on a trio of standby vegetables, like green beans, onion, and potato or broccoli, cauliflower, and potato. Though you don’t need much of it, the potato is key because it coats the vegetables, providing a subtle richness. Whatever combination of vegetables you go with, you want to cook them until they’re soft, and drain them well before dressing them; otherwise, the salad is watered down and blah-tasting.
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When buying zucchini, the smaller and heavier, the better. The huge ones with spongy, soggy interiors soak up too much oil. Aim for zucchini that’s no more than 1 inch in diameter.

½ cup thinly sliced red onion (about 1 small)

1 small garlic clove

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, unpeeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 cups trimmed and halved string beans

1 medium green zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ½-inch slices (about 1 cup)

1 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ½-inch slices (about 1 cup)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

1
Add the onion to a large salad bowl and finely grate the garlic clove over it. Pour the red wine vinegar over the onion and garlic and season with a pinch of salt.

2
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the potato and cook for 6 minutes. Drop the string beans into the pot and cover. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the zucchini and squash. Cover and cook for 4 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.

3
Drain the vegetables, letting them sit in the colander to cool for a couple of minutes. Fish out the potatoes and add them to the bowl with the onion and garlic. Lightly crush the potatoes with the tines of a fork, but don’t mash them to oblivion. Transfer the drained vegetables to the bowl.

4
Add the olive oil and basil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Shaved Fennel, Celery, Red Onion, and Parsley Salad

SHAVED FENNEL, CELERY, RED ONION, AND PARSLEY SALAD
SERVES 4

Amidst all the heavy dishes of winter, I love to dig into this refreshing, crunchy, totally raw vegetable salad. If you’ve never tried fennel in its raw state, this salad is a great way to get into its crisp texture and mildly sweet, licorice-like flavor, matched up with celery, flashes of red onion, and the brightness of parsley. It’s an easy one to throw together, but you need a mandoline (or infinite patience and good knife skills) in order to get the paper-thin slices of vegetables you want for this salad. My favorite tool for the job is a Benriner, a commonly available Japanese vegetable slicer. It’s inexpensive and really broadens your repertoire by allowing you to make a quick salad out of any shaved sturdy vegetables and fruits you like. Anyone who dislikes the tediousness of chopping will become a big fan of the mandoline—and this salad.
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If you can get your hands on one, shaving a fresh raw artichoke heart into this salad is a great idea.

If the
Lemon Vinaigrette with Garlic and Anchovy
isn’t your thing, you can dress the salad with the juice of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.

½ large fennel bulb, stalks discarded

½ red onion

4 celery heart stalks (the inner, pale green stalks)

¼ cup packed celery heart leaves

⅓ cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves

3 tablespoons
Lemon Vinaigrette with Garlic and Anchovy

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese shavings (optional)

1
Cut the fennel bulb in quarters lengthwise through the core. Slice each quarter thinly on a mandoline (to make about 1 packed cup). Halve the red onion half through the core and thinly slice. Thinly slice the celery heart stalks (for about ½ cup packed).

2
In a large bowl, combine the fennel, onion, celery slices and leaves, parsley, vinaigrette, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to combine and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Top with a good dose of Parmesan shavings, if you like.