by Sam Tackeff | Jan 5, 2015 | Salads
For the past several years I’ve done a Whole30 at the beginning of the new year, using the momentum of everyone else’s New Year’s enthusiasm to carry me through a month of unprocessed foods and smart eating habits. It’s really much easier to be virtuous when you don’t have the added stress of having to explain yourself to others when you are abstaining from office snacks and extra meals on the town. And in January, everyone is being virtuous. The Whole30 isn’t a crash diet – I personally don’t do it to lose weight, but rather to re-calibrate – reminding myself how much I love home cooking, adding a substantial amount of vegetables to my diet, eating mindfully, and to curb my snack habit. It’s a lot easier for me to make smart choices when the decision has already been made to abstain from the bad ones, and each time that I’ve taken on a Whole30, I’ve finished with new habits that I’ve carried through the year with me. This January, I’m not starting with a Whole30 – truthfully, because I didn’t plan – but I’ve committed myself to eating wholesome, home cooked food, bringing my lunches to work every day, and generally eating to support my health and wellness.
Fennel salad was one of the first recipes that I posted on this blog, and I’ve made it dozens of times in the years since. The base salad is one I go back to again and again when I’m feeling the need to be virtuous (or not so virtuous – this particular one has a healthy dose of cheese), so it’s a perfect dish to herald in the new year on good footing. It’s a versatile side dish to serve with grilled fish or chicken, and it lasts for a few days in the fridge, and in my opinion improves as it sits, so I can pack my lunches with it if I have leftovers.
This is my usual base recipe – sliced fennel, assorted other crunchy green vegetables, nuts, and cheese, tossed with a lemony vinaigrette, but I rarely make the same version twice.
What else could you do with this salad?
There’s a lot you can play with. Sometimes I’ll substitute pistachios or hazelnuts for the walnuts. You can change up the herbs – parsley, mint or dill are also nice. If you’d like, you can add citrus – orange or grapefruit segments work well. As do sliced grapes. Mixed greens, and avocado make special additions, but if you are making the salad in advance (as you should!), these should be tossed in at the very end, right before serving.
Crunchy Fennel Salad with Celery, Walnuts, and Parmesan
serves 4 as a side
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon flaky salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (optional)
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/3 cup walnuts, gently toasted, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 bulb of fennel, finely sliced, fronds reserved for garnish
3 sticks of celery, thinly chopped
Start by making the dressing: in a small bowl, put the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. If using garlic, put in the lemon juice, and let sit for five minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients so that the garlic will not be too harsh. Add olive oil, and whisk briskly until well mixed. Add the walnuts and the cheese to the dressing, and mix well.
Toss the fennel and celery with the dressing, and taste to see if you need more salt or pepper. You can make serve this salad right away, but it benefits from a few hours in the fridge. To serve, sprinkle with parmesan and the fennel fronds.
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 5, 2015 | Books in 2015
Every year I resolve to take a few minutes after each read to make quick notes about how I felt about the book. More often than not life happens, I forget to do it, and I move onto my next book, and promptly forget half of the things that I’ve read! For 2015, I set a personally challenging goal of 75 books on Goodreads, and I’m hoping that I take a few minutes between each for a breath and to reflect on what I’ve just read. Here’s the first book!
(via)
#1. Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
Paperback, 297 pages
Published in 2009 by Penguin Books
Read the paperback (owned)
I picked up this copy of Bicycle Diaries at Phoenix Books in San Francisco in 2009 – it still has the Phoenix bookmark in it – and I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to read it through! When I started focusing on cycling this year, it seemed like a good a time as any to actually pick it up again. I’ve been slowly working through the book over the past few months, as it’s served as my trusty nightstand book. (I like to read different books at different times of day, and the nightstand books are ones that are easily broken up into 10-15 page sections, such as books with very short chapters, or compilations of essays.)
The book is a compilation of travel essays, following Byrne’s trips with his bicycle around the world, exploring the history, politics, design, and culture of cities across the globe. At times rambling, always insightful, and I found myself particularly interested in Byrne’s thoughts on how city design can shape our culture, habits, and energy. It took quite a while to finish, but I generally enjoyed it.
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Two other books of note tonight!
The last book I read in 2014 was Tovar Cerulli’s The Mindful Carnivore (Pegasus, 2012), which I was re-reading for the second time since the book came out three years ago. The book follows Tovar’s experiences as a vegan, to ultimately choosing to pursue hunting as an environmental and ethical path to meat eating. I’m not a vegetarian, but I believe strongly in ethical treatment of animals, a greater awareness of where our food comes from, and respect for the life lost when we eat meat. This year I tried to address the issue in our diet, and joined a meat CSA, which provides the majority of the meat we eat at home – but for years I’ve been thinking about whether or not I should take up hunting as a way to further connect myself to the food we eat. This is definitely not something I’d consider lightly, so I’ve been trying to educate myself further, and I truly value the critical thought on the subject in Tovar’s book.
And coming out on January 6th, is my internet friend Andie Mitchell’s new memoir It Was Me All Along (Random House, 2015) which I managed to read a few months ago when I got my hands on a review copy, but will be purchasing in an independent bookstore this week to further support the book!
Andie’s brilliant blog, Can You Stay For Dinner, features excellent recipes, gorgeous photography, and candid and deeply personal reflections on her struggles with weight loss, and maintaining. (As an aside, her months long series on helping her mom with weight loss and dieting are also some of the most compassionate and loving posts I’ve read on the topic.) Her book is just as honest, and it was a total pleasure to read. Get a copy!
What are you reading next?
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 3, 2015 | Meal Planning, Seafood
Happy weekend! Welcome to another installment of the weekly meal plan! Maybe it’s the new year, but I’m feeling particularly productive in all aspects of my life, and I hope the inspiration lasts for a good long while. There’s a recipe at the bottom of the post for these scallops with Thai scented pea purée, which were a smash hit tonight for dinner.
It’s been a low key weekend so far – we went to see the final Hobbit this afternoon, which was beautiful, but honestly a bit of a let down. I grew up obsessed with Tolkien, and I think I’m still just bitter about the creation of Evangeline Lilly’s Tauriel for the movies – a lackluster female character who definitely is not in the book, and devised for romantic tension with an all too good looking Kili. The whole thing irked me. But I was certainly glad to have seen a movie in the theaters – it’s been all too long!
This weekend I’ve also been playing around with a new app that my culinary crush Jamie Oliver is collaborating on. (Other teenagers had their favorite pop stars hanging over their beds, I had a picture of a smarmy Jamie Oliver sitting in a bathtub that I had clipped out of the TV Guide. I was completely devastated when he married Jules, but I digress.) The new app is called the YOU-app, and every day it gives you daily photo prompts to encourage simple micro-actions to make a better life. Yesterday’s action was to address your fridge – empty it, clean up, and take stock. I managed to toss a good number of things that were past their prime. Here’s the slightly more tidy version right now.
The Meal Plan: Week of December 28th
Now that you’ve seen me bare all – it’s not looking as bad as I’d worried it would, here are the things to use up in my kitchen: a little bit of cheese, some potatoes in chicken broth, a little bit of leftover tomato coconut sauce from the Moqueca (perfect for simmering an egg or two), the leftover vegetable tops from my spiralizer, some beets which I plan on pickling, some coconut milk.
Saturday: scallops and thai scented pea puree. The recipe for this one is below! I was originally planning this for last week, but life happened. Served with a Trader Joe’s potato pancakes, and a fried sardine for the cook.
Sunday: grilled chicken and winter fennel salad. I made this salad a month ago for a dinner party, and I’ve been craving it ever since. Recipe to be posted shortly!
Monday: ground beef and tomato-rice soup. My version of a stuffed pepper soup, with a Turkish twist. It’ll likely get a dollop of yogurt on top, and I’ll use up the leftover dill.
Tuesday: chicken sausage and egg shakshuka. These are all leftovers in my fridge that need to be used. I might sprinkle with some of the extra feta that needs using up as well.
Wednesday: black beans and rice. I haven’t been eating too many beans lately, but Samin got me thinking about beans with her push for ‘bean month’ this January. And I still happen to have about a dozen varieties in my house from my Rancho Gordo year of beans subscription.
Thursday: pork chops with brussels spouts. Just something simple to use up some of my CSA pork chops. I’m not sure I’ll have anything interesting to do with them – this pork is so good just on it’s own.
Friday: Out!
Scallops with Thai Scented Pea Puree
serves 2
I’ve adapted this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s original one – replacing her creme fraîche with coconut milk, and adding some extra fresh herb (mint) to the peas. Thai basil would also be good here. I use Thai Kitchen Green Thai Curry Paste, which you can find in most supermarkets now. If we’re feeling hungry, or the price of scallops is exorbitantly high, I’ll reduce the number of scallops to two, and serve the meal with some Trader Joe’s frozen potato pancakes. To cook this dish, start by putting out all of your ingredients, because you’ll want to put together this dish quickly, and eat it while hot!
16 ounces frozen peas (I get the 1 lb. petit pois from Trader Joes)
1 to 2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
flaky sea salt
1 pound wild sea scallops, about 3-4 large scallops per person
flaky salt
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lime
Start by prepping your scallops – dry them well, and season with a pinch of flaky salt on both sides. Then, start the mash. In a large bowl in the microwave, heat the peas until hot, stirring every minute or so until warmed through, about three minutes. (You could also do this on the stovetop.) Stir in the green curry paste, coconut milk, and chopped mint leaves, and season with a good pinch of salt, and set aside.
For the scallops, heat the butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet on medium high heat. When hot, add scallops, making sure not to crowd the pan, and let scallops cook for 3 minutes without touching them. Check to see if they’re golden on the bottom, and if they aren’t let them go another minute. Flip. Cook three minutes on the other side.
While the scallops are finishing their last three minutes, puree the pea mixture with an immersion blender (A regular blender will also work, but will take a little bit more effort – if you use a regular blender, you may want to do this before cooking the scallops.) Taste, and add any extra salt and pepper you’d like. Plate the purée, and take the cooked scallops out of the pan, and nestle them on the purée.
To finish, make a quick pan sauce: squeeze the lime in the hot pan juices, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any golden brown bits that have all the flavor! Stir for about a minute, and you are done. Pour pan sauce over scallops and mash, and eat while hot!
