fennel and jicama slaw

i found this recipe for fennel and jicama slaw on the hungry mouse and i became obsessed with it... hence the hunt for jicama. i love jicama and fresh fennel and i thought the combination would be delicious. tonight i grilled up some salmon and made the slaw. it was awesome. fresh, crunchy, sweet, tangy... perfect. mmmmm. i am getting hungry again just thinking about it.

as usual i had to mess around with it, this time mostly because i didn't have all the necessary ingredients, and also because i think i had a really big jicama and there was not enough dressing to go around in the original recipe.

liz's slightly modified version of the hungry mouse's fennel and jicama slaw

1 jicama
1 fennel
5 T. olive oil
4 T. seasoned rice wine vinegar
juice of one lemon
1/2 t. sugar (you could also use honey... i would probably use a little more in that case)
a few shakes of red pepper flakes
3 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

peel the jicama and then cut it into slices and then sticks. cut off the ends of the fennel, cut it in half through the middle, then cut it into strips. save a few of the stalks. put the jicama and fennel in a large bowl.

put everything except the jicama, fennel, and cilantro in a jar. shake the jar until everything combines. pour the dressing on the jicama and fennel. chop some of the green feathery stalks of the fennel and then add it and the cilantro into the salad and mix it in. eat.

the slaw

i make no claim that my slaw is better than the hungry mouse's version, since i have never tried it. i think they would both be good. the main differences are that hers uses orange juice and green onions instead of the lemon juice and cilantro in mine. you really can't go wrong with citrus and fresh herbs though.

with this i made grilled salmon marinated in trader joe's island soyaki (which is just like soy vay island teriyaki and is much cheaper). it is a yummy and easy fallback marinade that i use a lot. i also tried my new bbq smoking chips (cherry wood, if you are wondering) on my grill for the first time and did not notice a huge difference in the way the fish tasted. maybe i am not doing it right. i did make sure to wait until the chips started smoking to put the fish on the grill so i don't know if i am doing something wrong. if you have any experience grilling with smoking chips and can help me out, let me know.