Cooking the Chronicle – Oct. 25

The author's daughter, chopping cucumbers in her own unique way—with a butter knife.

Gah! My first Cooking the Chronicle snafu—I simply could not find beautiful daikon or watermelon radishes this week. I used regular ones, of course, and it turned out delicious, but just look at the photo included in Jessica Grann’s recipe. Adding pops of white and pink makes this dish so appealing to the eye.

I really enjoyed this salad and would make it over and over. It’s easy to make, crunchy, fresh, and complements heavier meats (like leftover brisket anyone?), fish, and works with all sorts of other salads and dips. The whole thing came together in 15 minutes. You could easily swap in other crunchy vegetables like fennel, apple, cabbage, etc.

I put my three-year old to work chopping cucumbers, so they were definitely irregular in size, and I went to work slicing tiny radishes. I contemplated pulling out my mandolin, but we’ll learn that kitchen safety lesson another day.

I opted for fresh dill over dried, and I ran out of white vinegar after one tablespoon so used rice wine vinegar for the rest. It all worked out, a sign of a great flexible recipe. I’ll definitely try it with a sesame oil twist next!

About the Author
Rachel Fauber is a home cook who looks forward to the recipes in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle each week. She has lived in Squirrel Hill since 2021, moving here with her husband and daughter after living in both Jerusalem and Washington, DC. When she's not tinkering in the kitchen or drinking lots of coffee with friends, Rachel leads marketing and communications for the global nonprofit, Ashoka.
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