'Tenderheart' tells one Chinese

May 13, 2023

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Hetty Lui McKinnon is the author of the popular cookbook "To Asia, With Love." In her new book "Tenderheart: A Book About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds" she shares stories of what it was like to lose a parent as a child and how she found healing in cooking, especially in cooking vegetables.

She shares her bittersweet story and a recipe or two with Here & Now's Scott Tong.

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Here is a lovely double fennel salad, a wonderful way to show how we can create an entire meal around one vegetable: crunchy shaved raw fennel is slathered in fennel frond pesto and tossed with crispy morsels of pan-fried gnocchi. This salad shows how anise flavors can be layered without overthrowing the other ingredients or dominating the overall dish. This is an adaptable recipe, too—add some roasted broccoli or cauliflower, incorporate a leafy green, such as baby spinach or watercress, or substitute a filled pasta like tortellini or ravioli for the gnocchi. You could also use a short pasta shape in place of the gnocchi. You can use either vacuum-sealed or frozen gnocchi—if using frozen, don't thaw it first! I like to use baby fennel in this salad because they are sweeter and more tender, but regular fennel works just fine. Serves 4.

Ingredients

Instructions

For gluten-free • use gluten-free gnocchi

Veganize • use vegan cheese

Substitute • gnocchi: boiled or roasted potatoes • parmesan, pecorino or cheddar: nutritional yeast

Billowing, feathery fennel fronds can be transformed into a delicious pesto, with a mellow anise flavor that does not overpower. The first time I tried fennel frond pesto was during quarantine, when fresh vegetables became a precious commodity and using the whole vegetable was a necessity.

During the first lockdown of 2020, my friend Lisa Marie Corso sent me her recipe for fennel frond pesto, and it was incredibly eye-opening—a vibrantly green, grassy sauce that didn't taste distinctly of fennel, much smoother than other "vegetable top" pesto mixes. I’ve been experimenting with different versions of fennel frond pesto ever since, sometimes with other herbs or leaves added, often without cheese, or with different nuts and seeds. This is my favorite recipe, incorporating toasted pumpkin seeds, which add a mild nuttiness and gentle sweetness. Serve with pasta, roasted vegetables, on grain bowls or as a salad dressing. Makes 1 ½ cups.

Ingredients

Instructions

Storage: This pesto will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freeze in a container or resealable bag for up to 3 months.

Veganize • replace the hard cheese with 2–3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast or 1–2 tablespoons of miso

Substitute • pumpkin seeds: walnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds

I love the crunch of sugar snaps that have been pan-fried, just enough. Just enough is key—it draws out some sweetness, amplifies the sugar snaps’ firm exterior, releases their naturally vibrant hues. They should offer resilience to your bite, but yield with minimal effort, offering the eponymous snap. You could also leave the sugar snaps raw, just finely sliced. This will offer a different experience, one that is greener, more spring-like. Miso and maple bring out all sides of the sugar snaps—the savory notes, along with earthy sweetness. It's a jaunty dressing, too, one that could be adapted to many vegetable situations. The strawberries complete this story, adding surprising moments of fruitiness and acidity. Serves 4.

Ingredients

Miso-maple vinaigrette

Instructions

Do ahead: The quinoa and sugar snaps can be made several hours ahead of time and left at room temperature (or stored overnight in the fridge). Add the strawberries, turnip and vinaigrette just before you are ready to eat.

Alternative serving suggestion: If you are looking for a lighter dish, you can omit the quinoa and double the amount of sugar snap peas, adding in some baby spinach leaves. You could also use raw sugar snaps—simply slice them finely.

Gluten-free and vegan

Substitute • strawberries: blueberries, blackberries • turnips: radishes

Vegetable swap • sugar snap peas: green peas, snow peas, green beans

It is interesting what manifests from scarcity, or the threat of scarcity. I spent the first two months of lockdown in Brooklyn devising all the ways I could use instant noodles; dishes that were an extension of the package instructions. I saw instant noodles as my ultimate quarantine food; inexpensive, with an unlimited shelf life and, most important, accessible—with the supermarkets cleaned out of canned beans and pasta, instant noodles remained in ample supply. I made kimchi noodle soups, peanut butter noodles, cacio e pepe noodles, noodle fry-ups, noodle salads and, most memorable of all, instant noodle cakes. This ramen pancake is one of the fun recipes I conceived during this time—flavored by a lively ginger-cilantro oil, the noodles are pan-fried until a crispy crust forms. Serve with the Stir-Fried Lettuce, Ginger Jook or a green salad. Serves 4 as a snack.

Ingredients

Ginger-cilantro oil:

Instructions

Vegan

Substitute • instant noodles: egg noodles • cilantro: green onions

From "Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds." © 2023 by Hetty Lui McKinnon. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

This segment aired on June 6, 2023.