Pickled Brussels Sprouts, Carrots & Radishes with Anise Seed

Pickled vegetable salad is found in cuisines around the globe. I made the giardiniera from The Grand Central Market Cookbook the other day so it had a few days to marinate in brine for Thanksgiving. I decided to make a second salad to evangelize my love of anise with vegetables.  Believe me, anise seed does not make your food taste like licorice.

• 2 tsp anise seed
• 2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 serrano chile
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP sugar

To make this, I made the brine first because it must be cooled down before you add it to the veggies. I heated a saucepan over medium heat. I added anise seed and let it bloom a bit, heating it in the dry pan until the aroma scented the room. Then I added apple cider vinegar, a whole serrano chile with the stem removed, salt, and sugar. Heat this until the sugar dissolves, Remove from the heat and cool.

• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 4 cups of brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 2 cups of carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 2 cups of radish, trimmed and sliced.
• Serrano chile, (removed from brine and chopped)

Chop the vegetables, add the brine. Let marinate for at least 12 hours. This is a crispy, crunchy salad with a bright flavor. This is my second pickled salad for Thanksgiving dinner and serves 8.

 

 

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Roasted Radishes and Carrots with Lemon Dill Sauce

I had far too many radishes from the food bank, so I decided to try roasting them. As you can see they are huge radishes so are relatively mild.

I scrubbed them with a wire brush because the dirt was ground in. It took a lot of work to clean them, but it was worth it. I cut them into halves or quarters depending on their size. I wanted to get them all about 1.5 inches or so. I peeled and cut the carrots to the same size.

This is about eight radishes and 4 carrots cleaned and cut to size.

Preheat oven to 450°. I use paella pan for roasting vegetables. You can use a cookie sheet, bar pan, anything that is on the shallow side. I tossed the radishes and carrots in olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt. I roasted them until they began to caramelize.

To make the sauce, I heated 1 TBSP butter and 1 TBSP of flour in a sauce pan, stirring over medium low heat for about four minutes until the flour is completely cooked, but not browned. I then added 1 cup of milk. I had low fat milk on hand, so that’s what I used. I stirred until smooth, adding the zest and juice from one lemon and a bit of dill weed. I used a bit more dill weed than I intended because the bag slipped. It was still delicious.

The contrast between the piquant radishes and the sweet carrots with the creamy sauce was delicious. This made four servings.

 

 

Chop Salad

This is a simple salad that is fast, easy, crunchy and delicious.

Strain a can of chickpeas and rinse in cold water. Let drip dry a bit before tossing in a bowl.

Chop up the following veggies to add:

• Dice 1/4 red onion
• Slice 2 radishes
• Chop one celery stalk
• Chop one Carrot
• Chop some fresh cilantro

Mix together 1 TBSP of seasoned rice vinegar with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. The usual ration of vinegar is 1 to 4 to emulsify, but I like it a bit more vinegary. I do it about one to one, then add some salt and pepper.

It’s better the next day. Makes two servings.

 

Red Chard & Chickpea Salad

I made a quick salad using the stems from red chard the other day. I had a bunch of red chard and had removed the leaves and washed them for a soup I was planning to make and though tossing the stems would be a complete waste, so I chopped them up, chopped up 2 radishes, 1 carrot, half an onion, 3 dill pickles and added a can of chickpeas (strained). I adde dome salt, pepper and about 1/2 cup of the pickle juice and then let it marinate in the pickle juice overnight. It was easy and delicious.

Red chard can be very earthy – sort of like beets, but unlike beets they still taste good – and the pickling brine from the dill pickles made a huge difference in mellowing the flavor of the stems. The whole salad was fresh, lovely and crispy. This made about 4 servings.

Pea Shoots with Red Onions and Radishes

 

I took a handful of pea shoots and chopped off the tops, for the bottom half, I tore the leaves off, leaving out the stems. I laid them on a plate. With a mandoline, I sliced about 2 TBSP of red onion – very thin. I also sliced two gorgeous radishes thinly. I sprinkled the onions and radish slices on the pea shoots. I grated about 2 tsp of parmesan on top.

In a small bowl, I mixed 2 tsp of olive oil, juice from 1/2 a fresh lemon, 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp of dijon mustard. I added some cracked pepper, stirred and poured on the salad, tossing the dressing to mix it in.

This made a delicious, light salad with lots of bite. The sweet tang of onions, the fresh heat of radishes and the bright tanginess of the lemony, mustard  vinaigrette made for an explosion of flavor balanced by the delicious earthiness of the pea shoots.

 

Red Cabbage, Apples, Radishes and Feta Salad

 

This was a quick and easy salad to top some lettuce rather than using a salad dressing. I laid a bed of romaine lettuce. In another bowl, I added about 1/2 cup of shredded red cabbage, 1 apple cored and sliced, 2 radishes sliced thin and 1 celery stalk chopped. I also added about 1 TBSP of chopped red onion. I sprinkled a bit of feta cheese, ! tsp of walnut oil and balsamic vinegar on it and mixed. I tossed this on top of the lettuce and ate mixed together.

The vegetables had lots of crunch with the onions and radishes adding some bite while the apple added sweetness. The tang of the feta was a nice contrast with the balsamic. Together the flavors balanced each other beautifully

 

Root Vegetable & Brussels Sprouts Salad

This is a simple chop salad. I chopped 1/2 parsnip and 2 carrots into matchsticks. I added 2 TBSP of red onions, 5 brussels sprouts, chopped, 1 apple cored and chopped and 2 TBSP of chopped fresh parsley. I added some salt and pepper, 1 TBSP of walnut oil and the fresh-squeeze juice of 1/2 a lemon. I let the flavors marry overnight and ate the next day. It was a crisp, crunchy mix of heat from the radishes and onions with sweetness from the carrots and apples and hearty umame from the parsley and brussels sprouts and that special bright tartness of parsnips. With its crunchiness, it makes a great snack for late night TV watching.

Pickled Parsnip Salad

So this is about the easiest salad in the world. Basically, it’s a salad of round things. I peeled a carrot, a parsnip and cleaned 3 radishes. I sliced the carrot, about 1/3 of the parsnip and the radishes in thin slices on a mandoline. I also sliced about 2 TBSP of red onion on the mandoline. I put them all in a container with a tsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of vinegar and a dash of cayenne. I covered and let it marinate for a day. When serving I added chopped fresh parsley.

This is a very flavorful salad, hot with the cayenne, sweet from the carrots, earthy from the parsnips and with some bite in the radishes. The parsley adds just a touch of freshness.

Makes two servings.

Cucumber, Radish and Feta Salad

I chopped 1/2 of a cucumber, 2 radishes, about 2 tbsp red onion and mixed with 1/2 cup of feta cheese. Adding about 6 leaves of fresh mint chopped up fine, I added 2 TBSP of vinegar and mixed it altogether for a quick and easy salad.

This is a fresh, light salad with a bit of zing from the mint and the radish and lots of creaminess from the feta. This made 4 small servings.

Summer Salad

I love salads of nearly every variety, but my favorite salads combine fruit, nuts and cheese with some lettuce and a nice tart dressing. This one is made with romaine lettuce chopped fine, some Red Flame seedless grapes, sliced radishes, toasted pecans and crumbled feta cheese with a commercial cranberry vinaigrette.