A recipe for a springy Orange-Radish Salad

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Dear Lynne: Living on a budget has me taking lunch to work for the first time. My own food is a lot better than what I used to buy for lunch, so this works. My question is about safety. Is it OK to keep my cold chicken and hot soup (packed in a sealed plastic container) at room temperature for a couple of hours, or to leave it in my car? -- Cutting Costs, Eating BetterDear Cutting Costs: Don't chance it. Food poisoning is nasty, can be dangerous and could go through your saved cash in a day.You need to constantly keep cold food cold and hot food hot. An inexpensive thermos, insulted thermal packs, ice-gel packets and an instant-reading thermometer will ensure safety.Here's what "hot" and "cold" actually mean: Hot is 200 degrees F and higher. Cold is 32 to 34. The danger zone where bacteria flourish is 40 to 140. The instant-reading thermometer will keep you on target. Tuck small ice-gel packets around the chicken, sandwiches or any other cold foods, then zip them into an insulated thermal pack. Have hot foods boiling when you pour them into the thermos.Dear Lynne: We need a spring salad for a party, but there's not much spring in our markets yet. Thoughts? -- Caley in DetroitDear Caley: Spring radishes are showing up and the citrus is still fine, so think these two for your salad. Keep the dressing simple because you've got two extremes here -- sweet orange and the bite of the radishes. I've added a third in the chilie -- it does good things here.ORANGE-RADISH SALAD WITH CHILIEServes 6 to 8 as a side dish, and halves easily.Bracing says it all about this salad. Sweet, soft chunks of orange, radishes full of crunch and snappiness and a little bite of chilie here and there. Lemon and olive oil finish it off. Serve the salad on its own, with a few dollops of goat cheese if you'd like, or topped with shrimp or grilled things.You can cut up everything in advance, but the salad's best tossed and then served.3 bunches radishes (about 24), sliced into 1/8-inch-thick rounds4 navel oranges, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks1 to 2 fresh jalapeno chilies, seeded and cut in 1/8-inch diceJuice of 1 lemon, or to taste1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugarAbout 4 tablespoons good-tasting extra-virgin olive oilSalt and freshly ground black pepper to tasteIn a serving bowl toss the radishes, oranges and chilie with the juice of half the lemon, 1/4 teaspoon of the sugar and 3 tablespoons of oil. Taste and add what you think is needed. Season with salt and pepper, too.Dear Lynne: At this time of year I start getting excited about foraging for morel mushrooms. I've fried them in butter, but what else can I do with them? -- David in NashvilleDear David: Morels are so distinctive, with a nutty quality, that I would cook them in a little gently flavored extra-virgin olive oil with minced shallot until they are crisped.Take them out of the pan, add a little dry white wine to the pan, like a chenin blanc, or a riesling, boil that down to just a film in the pan, then add a little broth and boil that down by half.Doing this builds in complex layers of flavors and is done in a minute or a little more.The final touch is a few spoons of cream, but not too much. Put the mushrooms back in the pan to moisten them with the sauce and squeeze a little lemon over them. I think you will like this.Dear Lynne: How much longer do you cook brown rice than white rice? I want to substitute brown in a recipe. -- Thurmond in DallasDear Thurmond: Brown rice usually takes 45 to 50 minutes when cooked with the formula of 1 cup rice to 2-1/2 cups liquid. If you soak the rice overnight in cold water, it will cook in about 25 minutes. Even soaking for a half hour can take a few minutes off the cooking time.All this said, there is a hesitation. We now have so many types of rice available and each reacts a little differently in cooking. If you are cooking the rice into a dish, as in sauteed chicken with rice, allow 45 to 50 minutes to play it safe. Also, always check the package to see what approach is recommended.(Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," American Public Media's weekly national show for people who love to eat. For more information, visit www.splendidtable.org or call 1-800-537-5252. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)