In case I'm too busy with my home-brined corned beef tomorrow to make it to the Mac, here's a glimpse of some utterly fresh, frisky salad enjoyed by me and Cranky today.It's a plate of shaved fennel bulb tossed with shaved onion (doesn't take much if your onion is strong; taste it) and shaved celery.
The shaving was done with our Japanese Benriner slicer. It's a cheap but effective substitute for a mandoline, although my fingers are scared to death as the stub of vegetable in their grip gets closer and closer to the blade. Ah, well. I just stop a little short and eat the leftover nub, unshaved.
Anyway, the paper-thin vegetables are tossed with very nice olive oil, very nice vinegar, salt and pepper. C'est tout.
It's so — uh — fresh!
Posts
12 comments:
Oh, I just saw Alton Brown doin the home brine... yum! I ate my corned beef (local!) last Sunday... couldn't wait! It was staring at me from the fridge... that salad looks so freakin good...
and didn't every man, woman and child have a perm at some point in the '80's? It was just a hunch.
The salad looks and sounds just divine. I'm afraid I have worn out my benriner over the years by making cole slaw, pushing those big carrots through the little matchstick blade. Time to get a new one! Thanks for inspiriation, again.
The salad sounds loverly.I have one of those slicers. Never new the name of it.I lost the guard that came with it so I use the same method you do to save the fingers.Makes fabu potato gratin.
That sound yumy - I love fennel and celery - it's a perfect winter salad!
And I know where the little red drops come from....I have a very sharp mandolin, and stubby fingers!
Stacie: Kevin at Seriously Good ate his corned beef early too. He didn't know what day it was. Cute.
(Cranky did not have a perm. It's in the pre-nup.)
Moonbear: So simple, too. Imagine, wearing out a Benriner. Maybe that's why Cranky impulsively bought three of them the day we found it (them).
Greg: Yeah, that slicer guard is fishy. I can give you mine. :D Potato gratin! That's next!!
Katie: Blood? Eep! That ain't vegetarian.
I think Katie and I belong to the same club. Perhaps explains why I am reluctant to shred or to grate things. Looks yummy though.
Benriner, it is ok? Is the blade steel or aluminum?
LOL, the cheap side of me came out, I was at target and saw a benriner-like gadget on sale for $1. The price should have been the tip off. I got it home, and one try at a slice, and it completelly bent the aluminum blade. I get cheaper, I took it back for my $1 plus $0.09 cents tax.
Dagny: Cranky bought a butcher's glove to use with this cheap mandoline. It's threaded with metal filaments, so you shouldn't be able to cut yourself. But it's huge; apparently butchers are all MEN with big hands... Couldn't get one to fit me.
Lannae: It's got a good stainless blade, plus some julienne attachments that make for some wacky veggie-spaghetti, should you be so inclined. The bed of the slicer is plastic, which is why it's inexpensive. But if you click on the Benriner link and see the price... oh, my. I'm pretty sure we paid about half that.
(How much gas did you use, taking your inferior cutter back? Heh!)
looks so cool and lush! nice one!
LOL!
So the Target is about 10 miles (20 miles RT) my econo-car gets about 27 mi/gal city driving, the gas used was about 0.75 gals and the cost at that time for gas was $2.19. I spent about $1.64 in gasoline, a non-renewable resource. Good thing I had other errands to run at the Target and that area, or I would have been out at least $0.55. But I did have an illogical sense of accomplishment, and getting back at "the corporation".
Stickin' it to da man! Hah. I salute you.
Sometimes I wish I could hire somebody to do the dirty work for me when I'm too timid to be a butthead.
Though I've never had a problem returning merchandise to Target. They take the broken (whatever) and just stick it back on the shelf for the next person to buy, who then has to return it... and so on.
Hi Mary! At first, I wasn't sufficiently afraid of it, and I sliced myself. Nothing drastic, but I learned.
Now that I'm afraid of it, I actually find I'm using it more confidently. Go figure! (Plus I get to eat the leftover nubbins.)
Fennel still in the market... I hope you'll try some.
Post a Comment