Shaved Fennel Salad

I have a couple regrets related to Super Natural Every Day. Nothing too major, but one is related to photography. I'll start by saying it's not always feasible to have a photo with every recipe in a cookbook. This is especially the case if you want other types of photos in your book, like I did. Here's the problem - recipes with photos get all the love. No photo, the recipe runs the risk of getting glazed over. And in this case, one of my very favorite recipes from the book, this simple shaved fennel salad, doesn't have a photo. So, here's my attempt to remedy that.

I think I made this salad a dozen times or more during the time I was working on the book. And prior to that, I had it a number of times at my friend Malinda's house, which is where I initially fell for it. It is a compelling combination of a short list of ingredients that don't sound particularly exciting on the page, but come together into something more than the sum of their parts. Shaved fennel, thin zucchini coins, arugula, dill, nuts, and feta are tossed with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. That's it, really. Dead simple. I use this mandoline to make feathery whispers of fennel, but if a knife is what you've got, that'll work too. The version in my book calls for pine nuts, but I had sliced almonds on hand today, so that's what I used instead. Either way. Helene shot a beautiful version of it on her site as well. Give it a go the next time you're l! ooking f or salad inspiration.

And an Update! - New shipments of Super Natural Every Day are now back in stock and available. Thanks for your patience and ongoing support for the book. There was a bit of a hiccup keeping up with the demand, but (fingers crossed) it sounds like we should be all set through the summer.

Continue reading Shaved Fennel Salad...

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

The smell of peaches reminds me of:

dusty, dirty sneakers. light coming through peach tree leaves. shade. drinking from the hose. wet jean shorts. caked mud. my yellow Sony sport walkman. that Counting Crows cassette tape i loved. my sisters freckled nose. my dads hands. my moms laugh. sleeping in the sun in the car, half hearing adults talk. pie. pie pie pie pie pie. pie.

My family and I used to go pick peaches during summer months.

We never had fancy fruit during the year. We didnt buy containers of raspberries. There were no pints of blueberries in my fridge. Those were too much of a luxury. We had bananas endless amounts of boring bananas.

But! In the summer! We went peach picking. I remember it like a slow motion, montage movie scene in my head.

I like the keep the peach smell memories tucked away in my crazybrain you know, to think about awesome things when not so awesome things are happening. Life tricks. I got em. Im so good at life is downright amazing. Not true. At all but Ive got the peach smell memory situation tucked away in my brain just perfectly for emergencies.

Fresh fruit crumbles are absolutely the most delicious summer dessert, considering the minimal amount of manpower that goes into t! heir cre ation.

The better the fruit, the better the dessert. Its a simple as that.

Oh! And dont try to line up the square colored dots in this photo collage. Dont do it. Its just not worth it.

There are some rules to enjoying this dessert:

Youre not allowed to eat all the of crunchy, crumble topping off the top. Unless you live by yourself.. then you totally can.

You must eat this dessert with ice cream. Vanilla, preferred.

You must take a moment to appreciate the beautiful mauve color that this crisp bakes up into. Its really quite lovely.

Lastly, this dish must be considered a breakfast, lunch, and dinner item good for all occasions.

Fruit sweet. Oat-y crisp. Comforting summer. Ice cream required. Good(ness).

Oh! I should also tell you that Im pretty much obsessed with crumbles. Heres proof.

Peach Berry Vegan Crumbles. Pineapple Strawberry Crisp. Apple Crisp.

For your summer eatings.

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

ma! kes 1 88 -inch square baking dish

Print this Recipe!

5-6 medium ripe peaches, sliced

1 cup fresh raspberries (if using frozen, just thaw and drain)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place sliced peaches and raspberries in a square 88-inch baking dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and toss the mixture together with your hands. Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes. This took me about 4 minutes.

Toss a generous handful (about 1 cup) of crumble topping into the peach and raspberry mixture. Toss loosely with your hands. Spread fruit evenly in the pan and top with the remaining crumble mixture. Bake until fruit is juicy and bubbling, and the top of the crumble is slightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Crumble is delicious served warm and can be stored, covered, in the fridge and reheated in the oven or microwave for serving.

Green Soy Beans In Wine

The Shanghainese, like the Japanese, love green soybeans (maodou in Shanghainese, edamame in Japanese). If you go to a Shanghai market in the summer, you'll find lots of green soybeans, in their pods or shelled. Green soy beans are usually shelled and fried with preserved veg called xuecai andtofu sheets called bai yeh while the unshelled beans are boiled and soaked in zaolu(wine made from leftover sediment of rice wine) and served chilled as an refreshing snack or appetizer. Every time we are in Shanghai, there'll be a large bowl of drunken maodouin Eldest Aunt's fridge or on the tables at the restaurants.

If you get fresh maodouwhere you are, lucky you. Maodou are packed with protein and nutrients so make them part of your diet. You can fry the shelled beans like I did here or boil them with salt Japanese style or soak them in wine. I can't get zaolu here, so I use Shaoxing hua tiao wine which is a pale substitute to the intensely aromaticzaolu. This recipe is adapted from here.


Green Soy Beans In Wine
1 kg green soybeans (edamame, maodou)
1 cup Shaoxing hua tiao wine
1 t salt
1 ! t caster sugar
1 piece 8 cm cinnamon bark and 1 star anise

1. Snip both ends of the maodou for the wine to soak in. Boil the beans in a pot of water. Some like the beans soft but I like them quite raw so for frozen beans, one minute of boiling is good but boil longer if beans are fresh 7 unfrozen. Remove the beans with a sieve or scoop and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking and to keep the beans green.

2. Pour away all but one cup of the boiled water and add the spices, sugar and salt. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool.

3. Add the wine to the spiced water and pour that over the green beans. Cover and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. Turn the beans once every few hours to get even soaking.

Who Wouldn't...

...a city that plants bunnies in front of City Hall?

And then of course there's this

Stay tuned for more from Taipei.

It's Pretty Hard Not To...

...a city that plants bunnies in front of its City Hall building.

Then of course, there's this, as devastatingly delicious as we'd remembered.

Stay tuned for more from Taipei.