Whole Orange Cake (Week 11)

Oranges and more oranges! Leesa and I (the orange picking crew) decided to try a fun and easy recipe from this months Sunset Magazine.... To be clear..... We called it bread last night because both Hubby and I gave up sweets for Lent (amazing how creative you can get with your justifications!). Very yummy, dense and not icky sweet.

1 c butter, softened
1 1/4 c sugar
3 large eggs
2 large oranges (or 4 medium) a lb., ends trimmed and seeded, cut in chunks
2 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp each salt and baking soda
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tap baking powder
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 tsp orange juice

Preheat over to 325. Coat bundt pan with cooking oil spray.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.

In food processor whirl orange chunks till mostly smooth but not puréed. Add 1 1/2 c orange mixture to the batter and beat till blended. Add flour, salt, soda, cardamom and baking powder. Mix until smooth. Spread in to bundt pan.

Bake until tooth pick inserted comes out only with a crumbs, about 55 minutes.

Whisk juice and powdered sugar. Drizzle over cooled cake and let set.

Savoy Cabbage Slaw with Blood Orange Dressing (Week 10) + The "Kum"

Everyone knows that here in the valley, you MUST take advantage of the abundance when it is here.....the old saying "when life gives you lemons....." make lemoncello, lemon curd, lemon finishing salt and everything LEMON until you are sick of it!

This brings me to my Saturday adventure and this weeks recipe. My Hubby was holed up in the garage working on a monster size auto-related nightmare with our neighbor. I, for the first time in "forever" was halfway caught up with homework so I felt compelled to do yard work. This prompted a trip with Leesa (wife of the neighbor in the garage) to OSH. This trip got a little off course with a side trip to the Vineyard Famers Market (hence the Savoy cabbage), coffee, the gym......so the yard work got off to a slow start. I did, however, purchase my favorite garden tool: the Hula Hoe! (Back story.....some yeah-who swiped my Hula Hoe from the garage at my apartment complex!  Seriously?  My Hula Hoe?)

Off in the distance while making short order of my weeds, I heard my house phone and then my cell phone.  I trotted in to the house to find a message from my Uncle Paul (ALSO my Godfather or, as called in Croatian, Moj Kum). Hearing I was out killing myself with a Hula Hoe, he offered advice similar to my Father......"What's wrong with Round-up?" In our house, there is little that can't be fixed/cured/repaired/eliminated with Round-up, Super-Glue, Duct Tape or a swift kick.

Apparently my dear Godfather was tracking me down because his blood oranges were ripe....so Leesa and I high tailed it to Clovis with shopping bags in hand. We thought it was a "pick it yourself" deal but that's not the way it works with my Godparents! HE picked it.....and we walked away with 4 shopping bags busting at the seams and a overloaded plastic tub PLUS a couple of glasses of wine and a few good belly laughs! It reminded me so much of days gone by, my Baba and Nono sitting around the same yellow and green tile table.... talk of briskula games, good food and traditions (that naturally revolve around food).

What could be better?

Savoy Cabbage Slaw with Blood Orange Dressing

1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
6 Tbsp blood orange juice
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c mayo
1 head of Savoy cabbage, shredded
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c peppitas
1/2 c chopped green onions

Whisk together juice, vinegar, agave nectar, oil and mayo. Set aside. Toss cabbage, cranberries, seeds and onions with dressing.

So....I had all these oranges.....I started making a blood orangecello (more on this later after I am sure it works) but the photo of it in process is here on the blog.

In honor of my wonderful Godfather, I made this killer cocktail that I am calling the Kum. Lord knows he'd be proud of me (I can hear him saying "That's my girl!") and know my Godmother (Kuma Sue), a self-professed "cheap date" will probably want to save this for another trip to that wild place at the coast (sorry folks, inside joke between me and my Kuma...tee hee)!

The Kum (the Godfather)

4 oz blood orange juice
1.5 oz vodka
1 oz black pepper simple syrup (see prior post called the "Dalmatian"....the syrup is in the Maraska bottle to the right of the Skyy Vodka!  Yes....I know the vodka bottle is half missing.....trial and error my friends.)

Pour over ice and stir. Živjeli!

Tulip tomatoes (Week 7)

I am living proof that we all get by with the help of our friends.  My last post was from Karen and today's is from Katrina....maybe its a "k" thing.

This recipe was too cute not to share.  It's perfect for spring and is so creative.  I can not take credit for it as it was from a Polish blog, translated then posted on Slice of Life and "tag" for me by my pal Katrina.....thanks!‎

13 large Roma tomatoes
14 stalks of green onions or chives
200g cottage cheese, cream cheese or chicken salad (I am thinking of goat cheese for mine)
1 cucumber, finely chopped and seeded
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Split the tomato with a sharp knife at the top, making and "X".  Run split down the sides (all four).  Make a hole in the bottom of the tomato for the stalk. Mix cream cheese, cucumber, salt, pepper and basil together and stuff tomatoes as shown in the photo above.  Insert the firm while part of the green onion in to the hole at the bottom of the tomato.  Plate as shown.

Hot Cha Cha Chicken Wings (Week 6)

Well.......Steve wanted chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday! I offered to bring wings but I was sort of bored with the standard buffalo wings so here is my new wing recipe ..... Very Fresno!

Hot Cha Cha Chicken Wings

1 batch of kumquat marmalade
1 bag of frozen chicken wings

The marmalade is the key here....

2 c. kumquats, thinly sliced
21/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
2 seeded and chopped fresh jalapeños
1 tablespoon "Slap Yo Mama" seasoning
Dash of smoked paprika

After the marmalade is cooled. Start cooking the wings in a 425 oven. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with the marmalade. Return to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Spoon the marmalade over the wings to fully coat and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Mahi Mahi in Parchment (Week 6)

One of my pals did this amazing Mahi Mahi dish that I had to share.....  Hat's of to Karen!  Good job.

Mahi Mahi in Parchment

Lightly coat Mahi-Mahi with olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper. Place fish onto a piece of parchment paper (paper should be large enough to fold over the fish with a couple of inches to spare). Place thinly sliced vegetables on top of fish, pictured here, I used red bell pepper, carrots and celery (zucchini and lemons is a good option, too). Drizzle with a splash of white wine, like a Chardonnay (Drink the remainder of the bottle of wine with dinner). Top with a sprig of fresh Thyme or Rosemary. Crimp and fold closed the edges of the paper, creating a sealed packet. Place your fish packet on a baking sheet and Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. When done, place packet on a serving plate, cut open the top of the packet with kitchen scissors. Enjoy!

The Bissou (Week 6)

As most of you have seen from prior posts, I love kumquats! My parents had a bumper crop so I made a fabulous batch of kumquat marmalade for glazing chicken wings for Super Bowl Sunday. I had a few extras and decided to make a new fun cocktail! Wojtek and I are calling it "The Bissou" after our silly lab who thinks these are treats!

2 jiggers of vodka
1 jigger of simple syrup
1/2 cup sliced kumquats
Diet tonic

Muddle the kumquats with vodka. Smash the kumquats well and add the syrup. Pour the mash over ice and top with tonic then mix up a bit.

De-LISH!

Soupe A L'Oignon (Week 5 - Onion Soup)

The Hubster and I on the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Something about this cold weather reminded me of the chilly afternoon (in June) in Paris where hubby and I hid away in a little bistro to warm up and avoid the storm. Although it seemed unbelievably touristy at the time, I had to have a bowl of that wonderful onion soup that landed on the table next to me.  As it may have screamed "Clark and Ellen Griswald Type Tourists", it was warm, silky rich and sinfully packed with liberal amounts of butter and cheese.  Be still my beating foodie heart!

With that, I dug out my "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and ....voila!

5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions (I had red but it still turned out fine)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of sugar (helps the onions brown)
3 tablespoons of flour
2 quarts of brown stock ( I used home made veal stock)
1/2 cup dry vermouth
3 tablespoons cognac
Toasts (go with good quality French bread with texture and depth of flavor - LaBrea sourdough!)
Shredded Swiss cheese

In a heavy pan, sweat the onions (15 minutes) in the butter and oil (covered). Uncover and continue to cook until golden brown. Sprinkle on the salt and sugar. Stir and continue till evenly brown. Sprinkle with flour and stir in to paste. Add the liquids, stir and cover then cook another 40 minutes on simmer. Correct the seasoning to taste and set aside till red to serve. Just before serving, stir in cognac. Ladle in to bowls and top with toasts. Sprinkle toasts with Swiss cheese and broil till bubbly.