Beet and Fennel Salad with Lime and Cilantro

Dearest Michelle,

It's been a rough week. I've had some short deadlines on retouching work, and I had a few misses in the kitchen, plus, even worse, an undocumented success!

The biggest confidence crusher was the ramen. I decided I wanted to make Korean ramen soup from scratch (except for the noodles; I'm not insane). The whole doomed idea started with two beautiful pieces of beef shank, and then cold weather always makes me crave Korean food. It's the best non-dairy comfort food around, as far as I'm concerned.

So I picked up some noodles that looked like ramen at the giant Asian grocery store in Chinatown (an aisle of just noodles! It's amazing), grabbed some mushrooms, veggies, and Korean hot chili paste, and prepared to make my fiance's heart swell with pride. Looks like it would be good, right?





There's no after photo for a reason. It was ok, and I managed to alter the final product to create some satisfactory lunches, but it was more of a using up than a tucking in. Pretty blah, and muddy tasting. I'll conquer it someday.


Sunday I decided to make a Mexican-spices roast chicken to go with the rest of the chimichurri. It was good; the chicken was juicy (it's a never-fail recipe, but I'll write it out in the original form someday), but not overwhelmingly flavored with the spices. It was great with the chimichurri and smashed roasted potatoes, but nothing new or exciting enough to write about.


And then, finally, I found inspiration in the vegetable store. I had a migraine, and I was craving vegetables and vinegar, something clean and fresh. Now, I love beets, and they now show up in our meals on a regular basis. I get this from my grandmother, who will eat them right out of a can. I didn't even know I liked beets until a few years ago; my father hates them, and denigrated the undeserving roots (along with tuna casserole) so much in my childhood that I thought them not worth any attention. Oh, boy was I wrong. They are sweet and tender, and go so well with vinegar. Plus, you know how I love anything with an intense color. Sometimes I mix the leftovers with egg salad; the pickled flavor goes so well with it, and who doesn't like magenta lunch food? (turns out a lot of people think it's very strange, actually)



Here, I took boiled and marinated beets and tossed them with bright, crisp fennel that had been sitting in a little lime juice to mellow it. I'm not a big fan of cooked fennel, but I love it thinly sliced in salads, especially in the winter for some reason. I had limes on hand, so I thought I'd substitute that citrus for the traditional orange that fennel goes so well with. The whole dish is rounded out by a sprinkling of pungent cilantro. It was exactly what I wanted. I just ate the leftovers for lunch with a thick slice of buttered toast, and it was amazing.




Fennel and Beet Salad

1 bunch beets (look for beets with greens attached. These are an indication of freshness, and can be prepared like kale or chard. Leave 2 inches of stem on the beet when trimming leaves off, and don't trim the root)
1 large bulb of fennel, shoots trimmed off
2 small limes, 1 zested
vinegar ( I used orange-muscat-champagne vinegar from Trader Joe's that I am partial to. White wine vinegar would be good as well)
cilantro
olive oil
Dijon mustard
kitchen gloves

Trim and wash beets, then boil till tender when pierced with a knife, about 20-30 minutes. While they cool a bit, make the vinaigrette: squeeze half a lime into a bowl, and add about a 1/2 t mustard, a pinch of salt, the zest, and about 5 T vinegar. Blend, then slowly whisk in about the same amount of olive oil. I tend to like my vinaigrette tart, so keep tasting and use more or less oil as desired, but remember that the beets are naturally sweet. Add juice of the other half a lime if it needs more.
Use the kitchen gloves to rub the beet skins and stems off under running water. I love this part; the skins just slip right off, and everything in your sink turns magenta. Keep gloves on (or your hands will also turn magenta), and slice beets in half, then into half-moons, and add to vinaigrette. Let sit at least an hour, tossing occasionally.
Thinly slice fennel, and let sit in juice of half a lime and a few T of vinegar for a few minutes. Add beets, toss. Sprinkle with a small handful of cilantro leaves; how many depends on final amount of beets and fennel. The flavor should be just noticeable, not overwhelming.

Carrot Soup

Dear Devon,

Growing up in San Francisco, I was not a big soup drinker. Moving to LA didn't change that. But somehow, cold weather changes everything. Now that I live in New York and spend seven months in a scarf and gloves, soup makes sense. Over the years, I have developed a number of soups to fit my lifestyle. I have quick impromptu soups, when I find myself making soup almost without intending to; then there are the soups that I prepare in advance and save for later, sometimes in the form of a concentrated base. When I am ready to eat, I pour the concentrate into a pot, add water or stock, heat, and eat.

Making a smooth and light carrot soup is tricky. If it is too smooth, the texture comes off more like baby food than a soup for adults with a full set of teeth. Another pitfall is the stick-to-your-ribs, hearty lumberjack soup. This happens when you don't blend long enough or add enough liquid. I still struggle with this step and live in fear of burning out my blender.

I always purchase carrots with the greens still attached. It's the best way to insure the maximum freshness. Choose bright orange and blemish free carrots with vibrant green leaves. Freakish shapes are fine. It doesn't affect the taste, and once they've been pureed, no one will know. I find the funny shapes charming. I also love the crisp, fresh smell released when I chopping off their stems. That alone is enough to make me purchase carrots with their greens every time.
For this soup, carrots are the star, but I sneak in a couple of important supporting actors. Fennel, if you haven't already discovered it, is amazing. Some people dislike the dark, licorice or anise-like taste of fennel, while others can't stop munching on it. Eaten raw, it makes for a refreshing salad or snack, but I prefer fennel roasted. The flavors are calmer and less intense. Fennel balances the sweetness of carrots. Barely noticeable in the soup, it is more of an interesting background flavor. For this soup, roasting the carrots and fennel brings out the most flavor. Sunflower seeds, nutmeg, and cumin give the soup an earthy quality and a bit of spice.

How much to dilute the soup depends on how thick you like it. It's not an exact science. For reference, in this recipe, I used three cups of water for an entire batch. I did not make concentrate this time.

I like to top the soup with a small handful of arugula to add some freshness. If you are feeling decadent, finish the soup with a drizzle of cream or chopped walnuts. Serve with crusty bread, perfect for mopping up soup sloshed on the sides of the bowl. I made a wonderful parsley and garlic goat cheese spread. No recipe- just softened goat cheese, parsley, a few cloves of raw garlic, and coarse salt. It tasted unbelievable.


Carrot soup, not just for babies and lumberjacks, but New Yorkers too.


Carrot Soup
serves 6 as a main course, 8 as an appetizer

2 bunches of carrots
1 bulb of fennel
2 cloves of garlic
1 1-inch nub of ginger, skinned and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tsp sunflower seeds
1 sprig of rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3 cups of water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and chop carrots into 2-inch long pieces. Remove the upper fronds and base of the fennel. Halve the fennel and slice into 1/2-inch thick slices. Cut the ends off two cloves of garlic. Crush with the flat side of a knife, do not remove the papery skin. Place chopped carrots, fennel, and crushed garlic on a foil-lined baking sheet. Toss the veggies with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven until the carrots can be easily pierced by the tip of a knife, roughly 30-35 minutes. Cool about 10 minutes.

In a large Dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp of oil over moderate heat. Add one sprig of rosemary. Cook until the oil is fragrant. Add chopped onion and ginger. Saute until the onions are translucent, 5 minutes. Add sunflower seeds, cumin, and fennel seeds and gently toast. Remove rosemary. Set aside.

Working in batches, place the cooled veggies into a blender along with sauteed onion mixture. Pour in one cup of water. Puree until smooth. Return the pureed mix to the Dutch oven. I managed to puree everything in two batches, using one cup of water per batch. In its pureed form, the soup is powerful and thick. At this point, I reserve some of the puree in glass jars and set aside for future use. Pour one additional cup of water into the Dutch oven. Add 1 tsp salt and nutmeg. Bring to a gentle boil, just to heat through.

Serve with a small handful of arugula and black pepper.