more veggies, please!

20 minutes – serves 4 1 large fennel bulb 4 carrots ½ small red onion ¼ cup apple cider vinegar 1/8 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped juice of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons olive oil ¼ teaspoon coriander salt and pepper, to taste optional: other winter produce such as radishes, beets, grapefruit or mandarins 1. Thinly slice the red onion and place in small bowl of apple cider vinegar to marinate for 10 minutes. 2. Core and half the fennel bulb, lengthwise. Thinly slice all vegetables into paper-thin slivers or rounds. If using citrus, remove segments from membranes. 3. Make dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, coriander and salt and pepper. 4. Drain red onion from apple cider vinegar. Toss all ingredients in a bowl. from yours truly

The CSA sometimes gives you things that you don’t want. Or, more like you think you don’t want. I got a bunch of turnips. Growing up, I only knew turnips two ways: pickled and dyed with beet juice, in a shawarma sandwich (yum!); or stewed in a couscous. I tried preparing turnips simply before, in an American recipe for a warm salad. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever cooked. They were bitter and mushy, and the apple cider vinegar-based dressing did not help. I’ve been afraid of cooking turnips again, but I also like exploring new ways of eating things. My turnips’ leaves were yellowing and I had nothing else in my fridge. A neighbor was coming over for dinner, and the weather is shifting into winter, so I thought, “Fine, turnips, you are getting stewed.” When I tasted the couscous, I thought two things: “Why haven’t you made couscous to get you through every New York winter?” and “Why isn’t preserved lemon in everything?” I proceeded to eat this for the next three days and did ...