Spicy Cucumber and Fennel Salad

I'm a huge fan of flank steak. Nice, lean cut of meat with a really big beef flavor. And I think my favorite way to prepare it is "Thai Flank Steak". You just marinate the flank steak for 6 hours. The marinade consists of 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon of chili oil and 10 cloves of crushed garlic. Grill it for 4 minutes per side over hot coals and welcome to a little bit of Thai heaven, served medium rare.

I made that dish for Sean, Becky and I on Monday night. It's always a huge hit. I typically serve it with Basmati rice. But Monday was hot and humid, so I decided to try a new salad recipe I found on Flipboard (one of my favorite iPhone apps). Flipboard is an aggregator app. You tell it everything you like and it creates a daily magazine of all your favorite topics. So I get my daily fill of Formula 1, video games, automobiles, Apple news and most importantly....cooking.

Beverly Scofield created this recipe and I think it is brilliant. Delicious, fresh cucumber with the crunch of fennel and it's taste of licorice. And despite the heat in the vinaigrette, this salad is so incredibly refreshing...especially as a complement to grilled beef. This recipe comes together very quickly....in fact, just seconds, if you have a mandolin.


INGREDIENTS

For the Salad
1 large English cucumber, sliced very thin
1 fennel bulb, sliced very thin
1 tablespoon fennel fronds, chopped

For the Vinaigrette
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar


DIRECTIONS

1. Add vinaigrette ingredients to a small bowl. Stir thoroughly.
2. Place cucumber and fennel in a salad bowl. Add vinaigrette and stir well. Place salad on serving plates and sprinkle each salad with chopped fennel fonds. Serve.

Wine pairing: Thai Flank steak and Spicy Cucumber and Fennel Salad? Grab a big, fruity Zinfandel. A Rombauer, if you are really lucky.

Me and Goldie, 1956