we’re having people over tonight, so i am cooking for pleasure, hurray! tonight’s menu is fennel-orange-radish salad, stracotto (aka italian pot roast, with red wine and tomatoes), and either chocolate fallen souffle cake or cinnamon poached pears. Tallasiandude is agitating for cake. 🙂
Fennel-orange-radish salad, aka happy summer sunshine on a plate
Trim a bulb of fennel, slice in half the long way, then slice very fine; a regular size fennel bulb is usually enough for two salads or one giant lunch salad. Slice up some red radishes. Supreme some oranges, usually one per salad unless you have giant navel oranges: slice off the top and bottom, then slice off the peel in vertical strips, making sure you get all the grody white pith off. You’ll lose a few microns of pulp, but it’s worth it. Use the paring knife to cut out the individual sections of orange, pith & membrane free. Cut the sections in half. Combine the fennel, radish & orange bits on a plate. Drizzle over some olive oil and a splash of mild rice vinegar, grind over black pepper and sprinkle with salt. Or, you can make an actual dressing with the juice from the bowl you cut the oranges into, a bit of vinegar, the olive oil, and salt & pepper, but i find it’s easier to just drizzle things over the salad.