I can’t bring myself to cook with fire. It’s boiling outside and inside (we don’t have AC, most of the time the weather here in SoCal is perfect). Our meals these days are mainly raw salads with lots of crunchy vegetables, herb and lemon juice, like this one (My father’s signature salad). The nectarine was a last minute improv, an act to save a fruit that isn’t hard-as-a-rock enough for the boys. It adds a gentle sweetness and beautiful color.
I bought a cheap Japanese mandolin at Daiso Japan. A proper Japanese mandolin is more expensive but is much better.
Fennel, Radish & Nectarine salad
Light and crunchy salad for hot days. You can add toasted almonds.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 Fennel bulb
- 5-8 small radishes
- salt
- 1 firm nectarine
- Handful cilantro
- 1 lemon or lime
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse the fennel and radishes and slice as thinly as possible, use a Japanese mandolin if you have one. Put them in a medium-large salad bowl. Cut the nectarine in half, remove pit, and slice it very thinly and add to the bowl. Soak the cilantro in cold water to remove soil, dry and chop it finely, and add it into the bowl.
- To get the most juice out of the lemon, before you cut it in half, press and roll it against the kitchen counter with your palm. Then cut in half and squeeze it straight into the salad bowl, using your other palm as a strainer.
- Drizzle the olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and toss the salad with your hands or with tongs.
