Salad Days

But, without the chopped iceberg lettuce.

As the weather warms and my pollen allergies kick in full force, my cravings for hearty meat and starchy sauces ricochet into a feral urge for produce, produce, and more produce. Tomato season abounds. Summer squashes grow crisp in the shade. I desire light, cool dishes to enjoy on my patio while the alley cats prowl around, half out of curiosity and half out of the smell of the sardines I’ll snack on. These dishes are mostly salads. 

And I’ve never been a salad person by any means. They’re often unappealing: prepackaged with browning lettuce and drowned in dressing, or there are just better options to choose from. The first time I spent $16 on a salad at Sweetgreen I tweeted something along the lines of “Sweetgreen is like if every girl from my high school with an eating disorder got venture capital funding to make the tech start-up version of Saladworks.”¹ Today’s recipes are three salads but minus all of the sentiment surrounding salads. They’re produce-heavy, nourishing, and perfect for the advent of spring weather. 

Left to right: shaved fennel, radish and sardine salad, cucumber and mandarin salad, close enough to a ceviche.

If you make anything, tag me @heardchefyeschef on Instagram. Let me know your adoration, your bastardizations, your deepest and darkest food secrets. Think of it like a culinary confessional. I won’t share. 

Shaved Fennel, Radish, and Sardine Salad

Serves 1 to 2. Easily scalable. Ingredients:

• 1 fennel bulb, stalks and fronds removed, halved, cored. 

• 3 radishes

• 1 tin of sardines packed in olive oil

• 1 soft-boiled egg

• ⅓ cup chopped parsley (I really eyeballed this)

• 1 tbsp fresh chopped oregano

• 1 tbsp capers

• Reserved fennel fronds

• ⅓ cup olive oil, plus olive oil drained from the sardines (a little over ½ cup total, but adjust as needed)

• ¼ cup white wine vinegar

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Salt

• Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon

• Fresh cracked black pepper

1. Add the parsley, oregano, capers, fennel fronds, olive oil, white wine vinegar, and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and mix. Open the sardines, drain the olive oil from the tin and mix. Season with salt and pepper. 

2. The best way to shave the fennel bulb and radishes is on a mandolin; if you don’t have one, get your sharpest knife and pay your best attention to cut the slices thin. Shave the fennel bulb and radish into thin slices. Add to a bowl with the sardines. 

3. Pour in the dressing and toss. Season to taste. Garnish with a soft-boiled egg, sea salt, and black pepper. 

Cucumber and Mandarin Orange Salad

Serves 2. Or, 1 if you’re hungry enough. Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces (I sliced the cucumber length-wise and then cut horizontally)

• 2-4 mandarin oranges (2 if using sumo oranges, 4 for smaller clementines) peeled and torn into slices. 

• 3/4 inch knob of ginger, grated

• 3-4 sprigs of mint, chopped

• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped

• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce

• 1-2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp sugar

• Sesame seeds

• Chili crisp oil

• Salt

1. Salt the cucumbers in a bowl and set aside to draw some water out of them. 

2. In another bowl, mix the ginger, mint, cilantro, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. 

3. Toss the cucumbers and mandarin slices in the dressing. Garnish with sesame seeds and chili crisp oil (I also added some pickled radishes I had on hand). 

Something Like a Ceviche

Serves 1-2. This recipe is a blueprint for whatever protein your heart desires. Ingredients: 

• 8-10 jumbo shrimp, shelled, de-veined and cooked (if you’ve got frozen cocktail shrimp, those work great. I have also used tinned fish, canned tuna, and cooked fish for this). 

• ½ jalapeno, sliced, seeds removed and cored. 

• 2-3 sliced radishes

• ⅓ cup cherry tomatoes, halved, seeds and pulp removed

• ⅓ cup green onion, thinly sliced

• 1 avocado, cubed

• 1 lime

• 1 lemon

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• Salt

• Sesame seeds

• Nori sheets

• Tortilla chips

1. Chop the shrimp into small pieces. Add salt and the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime. Set aside. 

2. Prep the jalapeño, radishes, tomatoes, green onion, and avocado and add to a bowl. Toss with rice vinegar, sugar, and fish sauce. Add in the shrimp and all of the citrus juice. Toss and salt to taste. 

3. Garnish with sesame seeds and nori. Serve piled onto tortilla chips. 

1. For reference, I think Sweetgreen is really good, and I have to appreciate that since they lose money on literally every salad they make, they are in this truly for the love of the game.