fftf: lingering onion or herbs? make my catch-all summer dish

Hello and happy Friday!

Exciting news: I’m pretty sure I found my MOST DELICIOUS DISCOVERY of 2020. I know we are only halfway through the year, but I’m confident this is it!

I have been wanting to tell you about it for WEEKS, because I feel that I'm depriving you by keeping this under-20-minute summer dinner wonder all to myself. However… I'm gonna make you wait one more week (sorry!), because I first need to introduce the very important food CATEGORY that my new favorite recipe falls into, which I realize I have not yet written about in a Friday email, and it deserves its own!

I am about to introduce you to one of my favorite food "formats" or "categories" - I call it that because, within this category, there are many different recipes you could make, and yet they all follow the same basic "format." I organize my teachings on cooking around these "formats" - because once you understand the basic principles of the type of dish, you can make your own creations intuitively, from whatever you have, and without recipes! I also find it helpful to think about my cooking in terms of formats/categories because it's easier to organize the "recipe files" in my head this way. (More on formats / categories in the future... I'm still undecided on the right name for them so any feedback is appreciated!).

SO - It's currently PRIME TIME for the "category" of dishes I'm about to geek out on. Summer means fresh veggies out the wazoo, TOMATO SEASON, and - if you're like me - cravings for all the crunchy, juicy things!

Let me introduce the category of “marinated salads” - which I define as:

raw vegetables that do NOT include lettuce (or other tender greens),
cut into bite-size pieces (they may be sliced, diced, grated, or mandoline-d depending on the type of vegetable and the cook’s mood + preference), and
tossed with some kind of dressing.
They may also include ingredients like cooked beans or legumes, tofu, nuts, seeds, cheese, herbs, etc.
They generally look best shortly after they are made, but they are delicious for up to 2-3 days in the fridge, even while dressed. (The texture and color will usually change slightly over time.)

My Intuitive Cooking 101 students (hi!) will recognize this as one of the key "formats" I taught in my 8-week online cooking course back in January. Here’s why I love marinated salads and why I encourage you to consider adding this “food group” to your repertoire!

Marinated salads are a GREAT way to use up random herbs, half an onion, extra carrots, or really any veg you don’t know what to do with! (as long as said veg can be eaten raw)
I find marinated salads to be much more filling and interesting than lettuce salads. Especially when you use lots of crunchy veg, they take a lot of crunching to eat, which I swear makes them more satisfying!
Depending on the ingredients, marinated salads can also be used as:

chunky dips for chips (google: cowboy caviar)
fillings for lettuce wraps (tofu-based marinated salads are great for this)
toppings for fish or eggs or grilled veggies or chicken
AND obviously, eaten AS IS!

Randomly: they are also one of my favorite foods to bring on airplanes (😥 ) - the dressing is already on it, so no worries about liquid rules, more satisfying than a lettuce salad, healthier than most food you’d find at an airport, and a great way to use up whatever’s in the fridge before traveling.

Marinated salads are always on rotation for me. The ingredients change seasonally, the “format” stays the same. In summer my marinated salads look vastly different than in winter. In summer it’s corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. In winter it’s radicchio, citrus, fennel, raw beets, pomegranate seeds. Thinly sliced or grated carrots and radishes are always favorite ingredients. Kale holds up if you want some greens in there. Cabbage always does great. And even raw grated cauliflower makes an appearance in a cauliflower tabbouleh I love!

My favorite and best marinated salads generally follow principle #2: the rule of contrasting textures, in my Craveable Salad Guide (you can now download a printable version here!). Balance out crunchy textures (cucumber) with juicy (tomato) + creamy (avocado). And/or go for multiple different kinds of crunch (think cucumber, radish, and toasted pine nuts - all crunchy, but in different ways)!

For today I'll leave you with a pic of one of my simplest summery marinated salad combos: raw corn, tomatoes, red onion, (and sometimes a cucumber) with salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. Any/all herbs are great in this. Lemon or lime also awesome if you have it. Balsamic works. It’s great on grilled veggies or fish, but I also eat it with a spoon pretty often 😄.

And that concludes your primer on marinated salads! If nothing else - a reminder that raw veggies mixed together with a little olive oil/simple dressing tastes GREAT, and is super easy and flexible and healthy. I hope you're inspired to make your own this weekend! Let me know what you come up with!

And get pumped for next week’s recipe, my current dinner obsession that I can't WAIT to tell you about! (Seriously obsessed - been making it 5 nights in a row when I have the ingredients.)

Cheers and happy weekend!

Love,
Jess

PS. In case you missed it, I was interviewed on a friend's podcast recently - Listen here! It’s an hour long, so if you’re in a rush - skip to 35:06 (my favorite part) where I do a live "intuitive cooking lesson" in which I advise the hosts on how to switch up their go-to meals with a few simple changes. If you listen in full, you’ll hear: my thoughts on the Alison Roman drama, my awkward intro where the first thing I say about myself is my age (LOL, NERVOUS), and why I never cook boneless skinless chicken breasts.

If you like this email, I would LOVE IT if you forward along to your favorite food-loving friends, or better yet, forward and then cook something together! Wannabe subscribers can sign up here. Thanks for reading!
In case you missed out, here are a few past issues to check out:

July 3: behind-the-scenes, a week of breakfast
June 26: 5 ingredients, 5 minutes - a favorite summer salad
June 19: to shuck, or not to shuck peas?!
June 12: who has "authority" over a cuisine?
June 5: food justice is racial justice
May 8: It's been one year of FFTF!
May 1: SPICE UP your cooking, intuitively!
April 17: I’m 100% sure you can do this veggie trick
April 3: my dad’s surprising vitamin advice

Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from "chore" to "whippin it up!" through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers.