My subscription to Food and Wine expired, not intentionally, I guess I just didn’t heed their latest “this may be your last issue” notice. Magazines start sending out those warnings six months before the actual expiration date and sometimes you can get a little numb to their pleas. I like that within the last year, most magazine subscriptions include a subscription for your IPad as well. Certainly cuts down on clutter when you travel and many magazines include special features like videos for the IPad. I like Food and Wine, especially the chef recipes that are a part of every issue. I realized my grievous mistake at the chiropractor’s office. When I walked into the exam room I saw a cover that I was not familiar with, a colorful vegetable ceviche with the caption “Vegetables now”. How appropriate for the August issue when vegetables are at their peak. I had my adjustment, asked if I could take the magazine (yes!!) and was on my way.
Vegetables are a big part of our summer menus. The garden supplies us with an ever increasing bounty as the season progresses and we love to find new ways to present them. Food and Wine editor Dana Cowin in this issue proclaimed vegetables to be “the new pork, the new cupcake and the new craft beer all in one….they’re more interesting to cook than meat.” As a long time veggie lover I could have told her that long ago. Though it is great to enjoy just-picked vegetables prepared as simply as possible, finding new ways to feature them in recipes is one of the joys of summer cooking.
Tom Colicchio, cookbook author, restaurant owner and sage overlord of the Top Chef series is featured in an article “At the Judge’s Table”. The recipes he offers in the article revolve around local ingredients sourced near his home on Long Island’s North Fork. I am happy to say that Mr. Colicchio hasn’t just recently jumped on the vegetable bandwagon. His 1990 cookbook, Think Like a Chef has several chapters divided by season devoted to vegetables. As an east coast gardener who cooks and gardens with the seasons I appreciate that. Even before it was the popular thing to do he was advising his readers to seek out locally grown produce. His recipe for roasted tomatoes is one I have used for years and freezing roasted tomatoes is my way to preserve them for the winter months. That recipe has saved me the many hours I used to spend over a hot stove canning tomatoes.
In this simple recipe, thinly sliced cucumbers and fennel are napped in a yogurt dressing enhanced with fresh seasonal herbs. It’s a slightly expanded version of tzatziki, the Greek salad of cucumbers and yogurt. Chef Colicchio uses a goat yogurt described as “tangy and funky” from a Long Island dairy farm. I used a non-fat Greek yogurt with good results though this weekend I will look to see if goat’s milk yogurt is available at my local farmers market. To extract excess water from the cucumbers, place the slices in a colander set over a bowl and sprinkle a little salt on them. Let the cucumbers drain for about a half hour and blot dry with paper towels. I replaced the celery and scallions in the original recipe with spicy radishes and red onion. Either combination would produce good results, it’s all a function of what’s in your kitchen that day. This crisp salad would be a cooling contrast to spicy dishes. Paired with meat or fish or scooped into a pita for a quick lunch, this is a recipe that is quick to assemble and one I am sure to come back to again this summer.
Cucumber-Fennel Salad with Herb Yogurt Dressing
Adapted from Food and Wine Magazine August 2013
Serves Six to Eight
Ingredients
- 1c plain non or low fat Greek yogurt
- 3T white wine vinegar
- 1/2c chopped flat leaf parsley
- 3T snipped garlic chives
- Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4-5 Kirby-style cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 fennel bulbs, halved lengthwise, cored and thinly sliced
- 4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1/3c thinly sliced red onion
Directions
- In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt with the white wine vinegar, parsley and chives. Season the dressing with salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the sliced cucumbers, fennel, radishes and onion, season the salad with salt and pepper and serve.
