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Another recipe for the Quickles file. Romanesco lends itself beautifully to quickling-it maintains it crisp texture yet no longer tastes raw. This iteration was made for a Sicilian influenced salad, but it is easy enough to change your destination by changing your herbs and spices. Use these in the salad recipe or serve with plates of salami and charcuterie, burgers, or braises. Good with grilled salmon as well. If you just want these as a snack, see notes about adding lemon.
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These are nice to just have around in the refrigerator, ready to jump into a salad or sandwich, or just as a snack. You can change the shape of the cuts based on the shapes of the squash. Cube-ish shapes if you have a patty-pans, crook-necks, and typical stick shapes, or if you just have cylindrical zucchini shapes, just cut into quarters or halves, or leave whole then cut into ¼ inch slices. Just keep things to a ¼ inch thick and roughly all the same size so they change from “raw” to “pickled”.
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This is the first of my “quickle” recipes from which the rest derive. These always seem to disappear so fast, and I am always interested to see what they get used for. Once you have done this, you’ll find it takes longer to read the recipe than execute it. This is another dish where a Ben-Riner or mandolin is really helpful, or a razor sharp knife is essential.
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radishes
Walk into many a taqueria and there they are. Sitting next to the pickled jalapenos and the lime chunks, there is usually a bowl of radishes. I asked a friend of mine, who is of Mexican descent, about why this is, and she did not have a concrete answer. Her surmise is about the same as mine-they are cheerful looking and look nice on a plate, and the cool crunch and hint of heat are welcome foils for the sometimes oily meats and density of refried beans.
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The mild heat and earthy funk of radishes is contrasted with flavors usually associated with sweets. The radish reminds me of turnips, and I love to glaze turnips, so that is how this came about. Be sure not to overcook the radishes in the water or you wind up with too much “funk”, and mush to boot.
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This quickle is meant to show off the colors of the carrots to their best effect, and allow the taste differences of each to still show through. Since some red carrots are only red as far as the skin, this method of cleaning preserves the color and renders the carrots clean and safe. This recipe uses cilantro and coriander seed because the idea of keeping it all in the family appeals to me, but you could use other herbs as long as it is subtle. Using low acid vinegar- around 4 to 5% or 40 to 50 grain- such as rice or white balsamic is easy and preserves the flavors of the carrots. You can dilute other vinegars with water to get to this number if you wish. Stronger vinegar will need more sugar to balance the flavors. You will want a mandolin to make this easy.
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Colorful and crunchy, this “slaw” type salad is easy to vary. Try adding Tokyo and/or golden turnips, kohlrabi, or even cabbage. The dressing is simple and easily varied as well. You can use a mandolin for creating thin matchsticks or just use a large-holed grater. Do purple carrots last and add them in at the end so they don’t turn everything else the same color, although that would create a nice pale reddish salad. Serve as a side or plop into a smoky pulled pork sandwich. You can also use the same recipe, but switch to a vinegary/no mayo dressing (use the same dressing only switch to all oil and no mayo) and use as a side for banh mi (classic Vietnamese sandwiches) or with noodles.
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Rapini with Fennel and Orange
Rapini is an assertively flavored green that is usually sautéed with garlic and chili. I like the idea of using sweet flavors or milder vegetables to balance this aspect of rapini. Ideally, this rapini dish would be used to “sauce” glazed carrots (see “Basic Glazed Carrots”) where half the butter is switched to olive oil, and a pinch of powdered fennel seed is added to the water when cooking the carrots. You could use a little orange juice as the bridge as well. The colors are a nice contrast on the plate, and the mild and sweet carrots are a nice foil for the slightly bitter tang of the rapini.
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Sometimes simple is the best. This is one of those dishes. It is also flexible which adds versatility to it. This is a good recipe for when you don’t have enough fennel to make it the main attraction but want the flavor to shine. With a little tweaking this recipe can serve as a topping for meat or fish-see the Chef’s Notes. A fixed blade slicer such as a Ben-Riner or mandolin makes this recipe quicker and even simpler to assemble.
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This is a variation on the classic Red Flannel Hash of New England. There are many versions of this dish, some starting with raw vegetables, some use already cooked vegetables (left over from the corned beef dinner of the night before), some with eggs, all usually with corned beef. This version uses some cooked veg, some raw, and does not call for any meat, although there is an option for that. Also, this version calls for a smaller dice than most recipes, but this yields more crunchy surface while allowing the vegetables to cook all the way through without burning the surface. If you wish to use eggs, you can either cook them separately or add them to the mix and bake the lot until the eggs are done.
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This dish makes for an earthy and sweet mélange that is colorful as well. You could blanch the carrots a day before and the beets are roasted and can be done days ahead, so this is good do-ahead party dish. If you don’t mind the beets coloring the carrots, you could even sauté them all at once in the same pan.
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Sort of a cross between a kale salad and a quickle. Allowing time to sit in the refrigerator will soften the cabbage a little without taking away the crunch. Caraway gives the salad a Nordic bent. Use cumin, coriander, and a little lime juice to take this in a South Western direction, or sub lemon or orange for lime and go Middle Eastern/North African. This salad keeps well, and is a great lunch box item as it travels well.
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This is the dressing that goes with the above named recipe, but this, or any number of variants, could go with any salad of dense leaves such as the cabbages, kales, or things like mei quin choi or shredded carrot or celeriac. Lighter in oil, this recipe will not emulsify like a regular vinaigrette. Adding mustard will help the salad thicken, but be careful what mustard you use and how much lest you blow out the dressing and just have a thin and pungent mustard garnish for the salad.
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Although the recipe calls for red radishes, you could use others of a similar shape and size. Also, after a day, the radishes lose their red rims and the entire radish turns a pale magenta. They lose the hot edge of a radish, and will smell a little like sauerkraut, but will not taste as strong. These quickles are not a subtle flavor, but they go well with things like braised beef, corned beef sandwiches, and are great with smoked salmon and especially herring pickled in white wine.
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This dressing is good for when you have strong elements in a salad and you want a foil for them, such as spinach salads or salads with beans or green beans like the Provence Inspired salad which has spinach and filet beans. Use a mild honey, and even though it says “honey” in the title, I cut the honey with agave syrup.
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