Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Edamame & Fennel Salad

Edamame & Fennel Salad
We arrived home from our vacation in the wee hours this morning. I'm functioning on very little sleep at the moment, but it's been so long since I've posted that I really wanted to get this recipe up!
We had an amazing trip! I know my kids will be remembering all of the adventures they had for a lifetime. It was hard coming home and being thrown back into reality. I have so much to share, including about 1700 photos {and one recipe I did manage to photograph}, but it may take me a bit to get most of it up here!
In the meantime, I'm sharing a recipe I created for the website, Babble. You may remember they included me in their Top 100 Mom Food Blogs of 2011...which was so nice of them! More recently, they asked me to create a recipe for their Meals for the Family section, which features 50 recipes from many of the Mom Food Bloggers on the list.
This salad was my contribution. The recipe happened sort of by happy accident, and was inspired by a local Asian restaurant I love, that steams their edamame with a piece of star anise thrown in. I've ordered their edamame many times, but never knew what made them taste so darn good until one day when I saw the little pod of star anise in there.
I figured if star anise was such a nice compliment to edamame then it must be equally delicious with some fennel. The verdict? Yes, it is! The only regret I had was not making twice as much. My kids aren't big fennel fans, but it was easy enough to pick it out of their serving {they were happy eating their Parmesan coated edamame}. I found this salad so addictive that I ate it at every meal for a few days following.
Edamame
Star Anise
Begin by bringing 6 cups of salted water, and 1 whole star anise pod to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in 10 ounces frozen, shelled edamame, and return to a boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, and remove the star anise.
Fennel
Sliced Fennel
Meanwhile, remove the stalks and core from 1 bulb of fennel. Slice the fennel very thinly, and add to a mixing bowl, along with the drained edamame.
Savory
Next, you'll need some fresh savory. It's not an herb I use all that frequently, but I thought it worked very well with this salad. Add 1 tablespoon of minced fresh savory leaves to a separate mixing bowl.
Make Dressing
To the same bowl, add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Whisk vigorously to form an emulsion. Pour over the salad and toss to combine.
Edamame & Fennel Salad
Divide the salad among four serving plates, and garnish with a 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley and a 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided among the four servings.
Some other great Salad recipes - Perfect Protein Salad | Fennel & Orange Salad | Crunchy Peanut Slaw | Sugar Snap Pea Salad | Roasted Corn & Edamame Succotash

Edamame & Fennel Salad

{printable recipe}
Yields: 4-6 servings
I was inspired to develop this recipe after a recent discovery. The secret to my favorite Asian restaurant's unbelievable Edamame? Star Anise! If star anise took soybeans to a whole new level, I thought, imagine what adding some fennel would do? The result is this delicious, yet healthy salad that you will find yourself devouring every last morsel of.

ingredients:
6 cups salted water
1 whole star anise pod
10 ounces frozen shelled edamame
1 bulb fennel
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh savory
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

method:
Add the salted water and star anise to a medium saucepan, and bring to boil. Stir in the edamame, return to a boil, and simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until just tender. Drain and remove the star anise.

Meanwhile, remove the stalks and core from the fennel bulb. Slice the fennel very thinly, and add to a mixing bowl, along with the drained edamame. To a separate bowl, add the olive oil, lemon juice, savory, salt, and pepper. Whisk vigorously to form an emulsion. Pour the dressing over the edamame/fennel mixture, and toss to combine.

Divide the salad among four serving plates, garnish with the grated cheese and parsley, and serve!

7 comments:

Blog is the New Black said...

I adore edamame! This looks wonderful.

Joanne said...

Yay! Welcome back! I might have to saute that fennel first because I'm so not a fan of it raw. But i do adore star anise. In a passionate kind of way. This looks great!

Cool Chic Style Fashion said...

Complimenti il tuo blog รจ delizioso, ciao

Isabelle @ Crumb said...

I never quite know what to do with edamame (besides eating large quantities of steamed pods with a light dusting of salt, that is). This sounds like a wonderful salad - fresh and light, but not wimpy. And so pretty, too!
The salad is totally calling my name. I will have to try it out later this week. :)

Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen said...

This sounds like such a nice refreshing salad. I love both fennel and edamame.

Unknown said...

YUM, one of my favorites. Love this combo :)

Jim Howell said...

Wow, now you've got me thinking. My vegan daughter - the same one who turned me onto edamame in the first place, recently used star anise in a soup she made with orzo. I've got to say, I wasn't wild about it, but for some reason I love fennel so now I'm anxious to try it with edamame. Thanks

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