Crunch-Crunch, Who's Perfect Salad Is There?
Fennel Salad with Creamy Coconut and Parm
“Love and blessings to the cooks!”
Zen teacher, author, and chef, Edward Espe Brown praises the cook in his book, ‘No Recipe: Cooking As Spiritual Practice.”
Brown is one of the cooking teachers who shaped the way I *deeply feel* about food. His documentary, “How to Cook Your Life” changed the trajectory of my life. I remember watching it in my little studio in Portland, OR for the first time with tears running down my face. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to dedicate my life to food. I didn’t know what this meant, but making cooking into a spiritual practice was a path I wanted for myself.
On page XVII of the chapter “Before Words,” Brown writes about tossing vegetables in many kinds of acids to offer different tart elements. Using lemon, lime, balsamic vinegar, and fruit vinegars to layer vegetables in one dish adds dimension in such a simple way. It especially pops when used against sharp elements like black pepper, garlic, ginger, etc. This kind of simplicity without fuss is what feels to me like an aha moment in cooking.
This post-Thanksgiving salad is modeled after all the things you missed this week: bright, crunchy, creamy-but-not-heavy, with clouds of sharp parm tossed with toasted coconut.
Fennel is thinly sliced and soaked in cold water with lime juice to prevent it from browning while you prepare the creamy dressing. The dressing is punchy thanks to fresh lime juice and apple cider vinegar, providing a more complex way to introduce two kinds of acid á la Edward Espe Brown. It all gets whirled with the cream scooped out of the top of canned coconut milk: take the can of coconut milk without shaking it, open it carefully so as to not disturb any of the fat at the top, and scoop the soft and creamy top to add body and incredible nutty flavor to the dressing.
I buy the kind of coconut milk that has no gums or funny sodium metabisulfites. The only ingredients on the label should be coconut and water; you deserve it. I like the coconut milk cans at Trader Joe’s here, they’re affordable but feel so lux on the cupboard.
The fennel gets tossed with grated parm and toasted coconut with black pepper. So wild! But trust. Also, lots of crunch-crunch awaits you via salted peanuts, raw onion, and chunks of juicy endive.
You just need to top this salad with sliced avocado to round it up for a vegetarian meal. But if you have leftovers such as prime rib or sliced turkey, who’s to say that’s too wild?
P.S. Thank you, Stefan and Kelly, for the prime rib leftovers! xoxo
Lots of soothing sounds for our collective emo hearts via Bright Eyes, Iron & Wine, and Band of Horses on this week’s recipe mixtape!
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