Blood-orange and avocado salad

I never was an orange-eater.  Sure, I’d eat them, but I wouldn’t seek them out.  They just didn’t thrill me.  But have you ever had a spectacular orange?  Unbelievably sweet, with enough acid to balance it out and absolutely full of flavor?  Well, let me tell you somethin’- you’re in for a real treat when you do.

We are in the height of citrus season right now.  So please, don’t buy raspberries or strawberries or blueberries right now.  Buy citrus! Explore the huge variety of citrus that is available right now…Navel oranges, blood oranges, cara cara oranges, pomelo, oro blanco grapefruit, kumquats, Meyer lemons, and soooo many more.

Wandering through the Marin Farmer’s Market two weeks ago, I came upon a farm which grows tons of heirloom citrus.  Bergamot, yuzu limes, sweet yellow limes, and so many more.  It was fun to peruse.

But I must say, I’m still not too interested in peeling an orange and just eating it out of hand.  But I’ll tell you what I discovered.  Olive oil changes everything. I can’t get enough of this: sliced oranges on a plate, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and a splash of red wine vinegar.  We’ve been serving some variation of this salad at the restaurant for the past few weeks and it’s a hit with everybody.  My favorite version includes avocado (though my avocado obsession can rightly be blamed on other things**).  Other yummy additions are arugula leaves, chervil, cilantro, black pepper, chili flake, thinly sliced red onions, and fennel.  But don’t stop there- there are a million additions that would be delish.

It would be pointless to supply a recipe for this salad.  It couldn’t be easier.  But what I will do is give you instructions for peeling a piece of citrus with a knife.  Here’s how it goes.  If you’re peeling a smallish piece of fruit, use a small paring knife.  For a larger piece, like grapefruit, use a larger chef’s knife.  Trim both the stem-end and flower-end of the citrus so that you barely cut into the flesh of the fruit.  If your first trimming only cuts into the white pith, trim it again, a little farther in so that you get into the flesh of the citrus.  Now, turn the citrus onto one of the cut ends.  Using your sharp knife, slice down in a bulging vertical motion to slice off a slab of the rind.  (Note that you must use a bulging vertical motion because your citrus is round, not flat!)  The point here, is to remove all the rind and white pith, leaving behind the flesh of the fruit.  If you accidentally leave some of the white pith behind, go back and trim it again- you’ll get better as you go.  Now, turn the citrus slightly and make your next cut from top to bottom as you did with the previous cut.  Turn the citrus and do it again.  Continue along these lines until your whole citrus is peeled.  Tada!  Do you have a strangely-shaped, no-longer-oblong piece of fruit?  Don’t worry- the more you practice, the better you’ll get- it’s a difficult task! (That being said, I worked for a chef once, who told me that she used to have new cooks peel citrus in this way during their try-out to assess their knife skills!  Yikes!)

So, as you can see, I used blood-oranges in my yummy little salad (aren’t blood oranges gorgeous?) (and by the way, there are quite a few varieties of blood-oranges, all with slightly different flavors, acid levels and striations of color). But you can use any variety of citrus you want. Yum!

**So, maybe I am obsessed with certain foods during pregnancy- like avocado, yogurt, and spicy tomato sauce.  But I didn’t think I had any strange cravings until Scott asked me what I had for lunch yesterday.  “Romaine salad with toasted almonds, shallot-vinaigrette, and tomato sauce”, I replied.   “Like, just cold tomato sauce stirred into your salad?” he asked incredulously…”Um… yeah.?  Why?  Does that sound weird to you?”  He didn’t respond because he was laughing too hard.

Pear-cardomon butter

I made this last year and fell for it-hard.  I ate it on bagels, with peanut butter, off the spoon…and then I ran out.  And pear season was over.  So here I am, rejoicing in the new batch.  The only thing I did differently this year was to leave the pears somewhat chunky.  Not because I disliked the smooth puree, but because I just wanted to see how I enjoyed the other end of the spectrum.  We had it on french toast New Year’s morning- so yummy!

Pear Cardamom Butter from The Traveler’s Lunchbox
*To make a smooth puree, cook the pears until they have completely softened.  Remove the pot from the heat and use a hand-blender to puree until smooth.  Return the pot the the heat and continue to cook to the desired thickness.

• 6 pounds pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 5 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamon or 1 teaspoon pre-ground cardamon (the fresh stuff is soooo much better!)

Peel, core and roughly dice the pears. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and pears and allow them to macerate for 1-2 hours.

When the mixture has become very juicy, pour it into a large, heavy-bottomed pot.  Add the lemon juice and cardamon.  Bring the mixture up to a simmer and skim any scum that rises to the surface.  Continue to simmer gently, stirring regularly to prevent sticking, for at least one hour, or until thick. (To test for thickness, have a small dish chilled in the freezer.  Place a dollop of hot pear butter on the dish.  It will cool quickly so that you may judge it’s consistency.)

Ladle into sterilized jars and either freeze, or process in a boiling water bath.

Twice-baked potatoes

So, here I sit, unwilling to eat a great many things.  Many of my previously known “favorites” are sadly neglected, and I’m searching desperately for something that appeals.  It’s rather disconcerting-you know.  I’m a food person, and it seems that I’m not so interested in food, of late.  And the larger problem is this: yesterday’s interests are thoroughly uninteresting today.  Leftovers?  Nope.  I keep trying to pawn them off on Scott.  I try to avoid opening the fridge if I can, because of the refrigerator smell- do you you know what smell I mean?  It never used to be so offensive, but now, now, with my over-sensitive nose, I steer clear of the fridge if I can… “Scott, will you look in the vegetable drawer and see what we have in there?”  “Scott, do we have enough milk for my cereal?”  “Scott, what are you making me for dinner tonight?”  And by the way, thank goodness that guy can cook a great meal!  I’d be lost and starving without him!  (Well, I seem to be starving anyway, but not for lack of eating…)

Last night I found myself cooking dinner for the first time in a month-and-a half.  Start to finish- I did it all!  Perhaps it wasn’t a complete meal, but it tasted good to me and I figure, that counts for a lot right now!

A friend of mine was telling me about his trists with twice-baked potatoes.  “Oooh”  I said, “that sounds really good.  Maybe I’ll do that for dinner tomorrow night”.  And I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I dreamt about it that night and shopped for the ingredients first-thing the next morning.  He said he used triple-cream cheese (one that contains at least 75% butterfat)  in the filling rather than the commonly used sour cream/ chedddar combo.  Mmmm.  I followed his lead and made these really yummy stuffed potatoes.  And you know what?  I made five of them, hoping, hoping, hoping that I’d be interested in the leftovers.  And you know what?   I am!

I had the idea to throw olives into the mix because of the super-delicious twice-baked potatoes of my childhood.  Has anyone ever been to Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola? My best-friend’s parents used to take us on day-drives down to Capitola and Santa Cruz where we’d nibble, browse and play our summer days away.  Those twice-baked potatoes have never left my consciousness, emblematic of “the golden life”- to be sure!

Twice-baked potatoes
a great idea from Ken!

• 5 medium russet potatoes
• 6 ounces triple-cream cheese (I used our locally made Mt. Tam)
• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• 15 each medium sized olives, pitted and roughly chopped (anything but the American canned black olive will do!)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• kosher salt to taste
• a drizzle of pure olive oil or vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes and lightly coat them with oil.  Pierce each one with a knife (to prevent explosion in the oven!) and set them on a cookie sheet.  Bake for about 1 hour, or until they are easily peirced with a knife, showing no resistance.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

When they are just cool enough to handle, slice off the top 1/4 of each potato and set the “hat” aside.  Using a spoon, gently scoop out the flesh into a medium bowl, leaving about a 1/4-inch of “shell” behind.  Lightly scoop the “hats” too, using the same premise.  Lightly sprinkle the shells and hats with salt and put them back in the oven to crisp for about 10 minutes, while you mix the stuffing.

With a large fork, break the potato flesh down and begin to mix in the cheese, scallions, melted butter, olives, salt and lots of pepper.  Remove the shells and hats from the oven and carefully fill each shell with the stuffing.  As for the hats, you can do a couple things…give them a shmear of the stuffing for “potato skins” or throw them in the freezer for a mid-day snack later on!  (I froze mine, and have cheddar cheeze and bacon bits in mind!)

Choose a saute pan or baking dish that can go in the oven.  Drizzle a bit more oil in the bottom of the pan, and place the potatoes on top of the oil (this will help to make their bottoms nice and crispy!).  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 more minutes, then increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees for 5 more minutes.  They’ll brown lightly on the top and form crispy bits.

I highly recommend letting them cool for about 5 minutes before digging in- they’ll be like molten lava!

Church cookbook bran muffins

I love perusing old church cookbooks.  I own a few, and between them, there must be over 50 recipes for jello salad.  Complete with pretzels and canned mushroom caps.  Mmmmmm.  Well, I come from a Lutheran family you know.  And I hear that jello salad is served as the vegetable course in some households in North Dakota…(well that’s the rumor I heard, anyway!)  So many of the recipes crack me up.  Like “Chicken Jamboree” and “Fiesta Chicken” (which, by the way, seems to make it’s way into fiesta-land by way of a little cilantro!).  There are cool-whip pies and a million other funny recipes that I’d never go near.  Church cookbooks are kind of like shopping at Ross or TJ Max- you just have to be willing to look.  If you keep paging through, you’re bound to find a couple diamonds in the rough.

My Grama used to belong to a church in Palo Alto that was full of great cooks.  That church cookbook is a gem!  She went through the whole thing and circled the recipes that were contributed by all the great cooks.  My dad owns a copy of that church cookbook too, and all the pages are warped, stained and curled because of how often it’s been used.  About 10 years ago, I decided I needed my own copy, so I called up the church and asked if they happened to have any left.  Nope!  So I took my dad’s version to the local copy center and copied the whole dang thing! (Totally worth it!)

So this bran muffin recipe is from the infamous church cookbook.  Honestly, it didn’t occur to me until I was in highschool that most people only eat bran muffins in certain situations.  1) They’re trying to be healthy. 2) They’re having some- um- problems.

When I was growing up, these muffins were standard fare.  We never had blueberry muffins or lemon-poppyseed muffins.  We ate bran muffins.  And I loved them.  (And for the record- for all you doubting people out there- Scott said the other day, “these muffins really are good!“).  So that goes to show you that it’s not just me and my biased opinion!

Church cookbook Bran Muffins
yields approx 2 dozen
*I like to mix up the batter and only bake a few at a time.  It keeps well in the fridge for at least a week and a half.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup organic  shortening (I keep meaning to try butter instead….let me know how it works if you do!)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups Kellogg’s All Bran cereal
• 1 cup General Mills Fiber One cereal
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place the baking rack in the center-most position.  Prepare 2 muffin pans by lightly spraying with oil, or lining with paper cups.

Measure the bran cereals into a medium bowl and pour the boiling water over them.  Stir so that everything is equally moistened.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the sugar and shortening.  Add the beaten eggs and continue to mix until thoroughly combined.

In another medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir well to mix.  With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk and flour, in 2 alternating doses to the creamed mixture.  Add the brans and mix well.  Add the optional raisins.

Pour a heaping 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup, and bake for about 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Life

Don’t Put off Your Happy Life!

I saw this life-reminder on one of the blogs I love to read and thought that it was definitely in need of sharing.  An important message to remember, me thinks!

Salty chocolate cookies

Like cookie dough?  Yeah, me too.

So here I am, pregnant (Yes-11 weeks!) and trying to avoid raw eggs.  And I find myself making cookies for Christmas Eve.  And you know what I realized?  I somehow, miraculously, chose two cookie recipes that don’t include raw eggs.  It was a gosh, darn, Christmas miracle!  And so I nibbled away, to my heart’s content, knowing that if anything was going to kill me, it would most certainly be the overload on chocolate!

These are Scott’s favorite Christmas cookies (not that he really has much experience in the whole realm of Christmas).  Oh, and on that note, you should have seen him attempting to put lights on our little 4-foot tree.  It was an ordeal to behold, bless his heart!  Better luck next year, perhaps?

But, back to business.  These cookies are crisp and chocolaty. And lovely.  And delicious.  And chocolaty.

Salty Chocolate Cookies from a generous co-worker who knew her stuff when it came to salty, chocolaty things!
yields about 36 cookies

• 5-1/2 ounces unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fleur de sel (flaky sea salt)
• 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.

In a separate medium bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, fleur de sel, and bittersweet chocolate.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix on low speed for about 1 minute.  It will remain crumbly.  Pour the crumbly dough out onto a cookie sheet and divide it into two piles.

Gather each pile together, molding it like clay, into logs about 1-inch thick.  They do not need to be perfectly uniform at this point.

Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.

Remove the logs from the refrigerator and shape them into uniform logs.  (They will be easier to handle now that they are lightly chilled.)  Your logs can either be round, or square.  To make them square, I pat, rather than roll them, and pinch the edges to make crisper corners.

Refrigerate for at least another 30-60 minutes, or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Using a serrated bread knife, use a gentle sawing motion to slice each log into cookies about 1/4-inch thick.  Place on cookie sheets about 2-inches apart, and if you’d like, sprinkle with a few more flakes of fleur de sel.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for about 1-minute, then remove to cooling rack.

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

These are little delicious lemony nuggets of yumminess.  They are bite-sized.  They crumble on your tongue.  They are lovely.

I really love these cookies.

I’ve been making them for at least 10 years now.  In fact, while Scott went gallivanting around the city with the boys for his bachelor party, my sister and I had our own little bachelorette party at home, making these cookies, drinking tea, and watching The Three Amigos—–I kid you not.  Talk about G-Rated- huh?  I do consider myself a little nerdy.  But I revel in my nerdiness.

Lemon Meltaway Cookies
adapted from a Land O Lakes butter advertisement 10 years ago!!
*If you have access to Meyer lemons, definitely use them- they’re great.

I usually mix the recipe by hand because the recipe is too small for the big standing-mixer bowl.  It’s simple and doesn’t require a lot of aeration in the mixing process.

For the cookies

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

For the frosting

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and powdered sugar.  Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, cornstarch, and flour.  Stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Divide the dough in half and roll into logs about 8 inches long, and 1 inch thick. They need not be perfectly cylindrical.  Set on a flat plate and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Now that they have firmed up a bit, you can roll them into nicely-shaped logs.  Refrigerate until fully chilled, 1 to 2 hours.

30 minutes prior to baking, heat oven to 350 degrees, and place the oven rack in the center position.  Using a sharp paring knife, slice the logs into 1/4-inch rounds.  Place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheets at bake for 8-12 minutes, or until set.  (To test for doneness, try to “scooch” a cookie to one side with your finger.  If the whole cookie moves, they are done.)  They may turn slightly golden on the bottoms, but will not color on top.  Cool completely.

In small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients.  Stir well until all ingredients are fully incorporated.  It doesn’t look like enough frosting, but fear not- it is!  Use the tip of a butter knife to swipe on a dab of frosting on each cookie and allow them to dry for 1 hour before packing and storing.

Not so hum-drum

Pardon me sir, but do you have any prunes?  Yes prunes.  I prefer them with pits.  That way, you can gnaw at them and coax the bits of fruit out of the craggy pits with your tongue for hours.  Ahh, glorious.

Well, the other day I was following a recipe that required prunes to be soaked in tea.  So I brewed myself a pot of Earl Grey and soaked my prunes.  But the recipe suggested that I pour out the liquid!!!  (Sacre bleu!)  Heavens no!!!  I dutifully saved that sweet elixir and cooked my steel-cut oatmeal in it the next morning.  ‘Twas a lovely pot of oatmeal.  And oatmeal just ain’t oatmeal without a pat of butter, a spoonful of brown sugar and a generous pour of milk.

Steel-cut oatmeal cooked in prune-sweetened tea
yields one huge bowl or 2 average-sized bowls

To make the prune-sweetened tea, simply brew a large mug of your favorite black tea and  dunk in a handful of pitted prunes. Allow to steep for about 30 minutes.  Strain out the prunes and nibble at your leisure.

• 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups prune-sweetened tea
• small pinch salt
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• milk for topping
• sugar for topping

In a small sauce pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the oats and stir until they begin to smell slightly toasted.  Add the tea and simmer very gently until the oats are tender but toothy, about 15 minutes.  Stir in a small pinch of salt.  Pour into a bowl and top with yummy toppings.

Chewy, crunchy ginger-molasses cookies

These are every bit as fun as my buddy Nate whom everyone adores for his fiery character.  If he were a cookie, he would be a chewy, crunchy ginger-molasses cookie.  Hands down.  A little spicy and enough chew to keep you “jawin”.  And sweet enough to keep you comin’ back for more.  Yup, that is Nate in a nut-shell–not to imply that he could actually fit in a nut-shell…  But….well, we shorties gotta stick together!

Actually, Nate was the one who gave me this original recipe which I tweaked a bit to invoke his character!

Chewy, crunchy ginger-molasses cookies
yields about 20 large cookies

• 3/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Turbinado sugar for rolling (substituting regular white sugar will produce different results)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk the oil, white sugar, egg, fresh ginger, and molasses.  In a separate medium bowl, mix the flour, ginger, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet.  Scoop into 2-Tablespoon balls and coat with the Turbinado sugar by pouring the sugar into a small dish, and rolling the balls around.  Place the  balls 2 to 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with a sil-pat or parchment paper, 10 balls per tray, like this…

O    O    O

O     O

O    O    O

O    O

Bake for 12 minutes.   (At about 10 minutes the cookies will have puffed up but will be too soft and raw in the center.  Then they will fall, somewhat flat.)  Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.  The cookies will seem underdone, but will be nice and chewy, once cooled.

Feather Buns

I’ve been thinking about a certain issue of late…why is it that grandmother’s have the best recipes? After pondering for a good, long, while, I’ve come to a conclusion.  They have their whole lives to find them! I’ve got a good recipe here, a crappy one there, but see, I’m only 31.  Just wait til I’m 80!  Hooo, boy.

Of course, upon further pondering, a different thought occurs to me.  This is not a universal rule. One of my grandmothers was capable of whipping up a dinner party for 10 officers with no planning, at the drop of a hat, while my other grandmother’s specialty was Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese with hot-dog rounds stirred in.  Hmmmm.  Oh well, she had other specialties, I guess.  Like horseback riding.  And cooking broccoli in the pressure cooker ’til it was brown.  Oh, and Frosted Flakes.

Anyway.  These lovely feather buns have been at every family holiday for a great many years, and I’ve taken it upon myself to continue the tradition since my grama’s hands have a hard time mixing and shaping.  They are truly lovely.  I generally eat at least 3 the moment they come out of the oven.  With jam.  Or butter.  Or nothing.  I especiallly love them as mini ham or turkey sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving.

Grama B’s Feather Buns
yields approx 3 dozen

Warning: silly me- I attempted to make a 1-1/2 batch in my kitchen-aide mixer.  Ha!  Overflow! I’d stick to one batch at a time if I were you!

• 1 cup hot mashed Russet or Idaho potato- reserve the cooking water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter or shortening (I use Spectrum Organic)
• 2 cups whole milk, scalded and cooled
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cakes fresh yeast or 2 pkgs instant dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm, not hot, potato cooking water
• 8 to 8-1/2 cups all purpose flour

In a large bowl, mash the potato together with the sugar and shortening.  Stir in the milk, salt and eggs.  You’ll be left with a fairly sloppy batter.  Separately, dissolve the yeast in the reserved warm- not hot- potato water.  Stir into the potato mixture.  With a whisk, stir in 2 cups flour.  Cover with plastic and allow to rise for one hour.

Transfer to batter to the bowl of an electric mixer and add about 6-1/2 more cups of flour.   (Unless it’s a particularly dry day, I always use the extra 1/2 cup of flour.)  Knead for about 8-10 minutes to make a soft dough, stopping to scrape down the dough as needed.  At this point, the dough may still feel a little sticky, but the moisture will even out during the next rise.  Cover with plastic and allow to rise until double in bulk, about one hour.

Place your *oven rack in the center-most position and turn on the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly sprinkle your work counter with flour.  Using a bench-scraper and scale portion out the dough into 1-3/4 to 2 ounce balls.  (Alternately, eyeball it!!  Each finished ball should measure approx. 2-inches in diameter).  To roll the balls, cup your hand over the piece of dough as it sits on the counter.   Begin moving your hand in a clock-wise motion (think: wax on, wax off”), until the piece of dough becomes a ball.  You’ll notice that the underside of the dough has formed a little belly-button.  Place the dough balls on a baking sheet- 12 per sheet- and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Bake for 12- 15 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack and try your darnedest to not eat them all at once.

*I find that these cook more evenly when baked one tray at a time.  If you are short on time and must bake 2 trays at the same time, place your oven racks in the upper third and bottom third of the oven.  Be sure to swap the trays, top to bottom and bottom to top, midway through the baking time.