Blood Orange and Avocado Salsa

 

Last week I took a very short trip to San Francisco.  Keith was sent there for work so I flew down for a couple of days to visit with some old friends and just have a couple days in SF without kids.  It was really great and refreshing to get away.

I wanted to find a Farmers Market while I was in town.  It was great to see more of a variety in produce, especially all the citrus.  I bought a few pounds of Blood Oranges from Hooverville Orchards in El Dorado County. Very carefully, I carried them home on my lap.

 

I had some avocados left over from the weekly basket waiting for me when I got home.  I thought of a simple salad my mom used to make of grapefruit and avocado and improvised a salsa with that salad in mind.  The Salsa was so good and we paired it with some Pacific Cod to make some delicious and very simple fish tacos.

Blood Orange and Avocado Salsa

2 avocados cut into small chunks
3 blood oranges, sectioned
1/2 red onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime

With the left over blood oranges I made these refreshing Tequila Sunrises.  On a somewhat mild night on the first evening of Daylight Savings time, we ate our fish tacos and sipped our tequila sunrises at 6pm in daylight.  It was comforting to have the feeling that spring is slowly but surely on its way to the Northwest.

 

Blood Orange Tequila Sunrise

Fill glass with ice

2oz Tequila

Juice of about 2 blood oranges

1tblsp Grenadine

Baked Kale Chips

The other day I was hanging out with my great friend Lia and we were talking about what we often talk about: food. How much we spend on it, what our kids will eat and won't eat, new things we've tried or new places we've eaten, etc.  She mentioned wanting to try Kale Chips.  It immediately sounded like something I needed to try.  I went home and searched the Internet for some recipes.  I felt like I was so out of the loop.  I guess Kale chips are a bit of trend I had apparently been missing out on. I never heard of Kale chips before but it looks like everyone else has.

On Saturday I went to the farmers market and chose 2 different kinds of Kale: Italian Kale and Winter Red.

The chips were super easy to make and so delicious.

So Lia, this one's for you. No need to go out and buy that olive oil spritzer ;-)


Recipe for Baked Kale chips

Wash and rinse Kale well.  Its important to make sure your Kale has been dried thoroughly. If you have a salad spinner, that works great but you can also just tap dry with paper napkins or a towel.

Put Kale in a mixing bowl and coat with Olive Oil.
Mix well and season with salt.
Spread out on baking sheet.

 Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until brown but not burnt.

Spare Room Workshop

Last weekend I took an amazing workshop with Seattle Food Photographer, Clare Barboza. Her photography is so inspiring to me. Becky Selengut, author of Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast , was cooking up some amazing food for us, and I had such a fun day at Clare's studio. I was in heaven choosing dishes and surfaces from her prop wall.

Here are a few of the shots I came home with:

Delicata Squash

I discovered Delicata squash last winter when a good friend and I had drinks and a few snacks at a French restaurant in Ballard, Bastille.  I can't remember what I ordered but my friend ordered Roasted Delicata squash with Creme Fraiche.  There may have been more to the dish but it was simple and perfect. We tried to recreate it a few weeks later when she came over for dinner and we ate it like candy.  It's one of the few squash varieties that the skin is delicate enough to leave on and eat.  It has the sweetest, softest texture and makes the easiest side dish. I love to just roast it with salt and olive oil, no Creme Fraiche needed but its not a bad accompaniment if you have it laying around.

Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and slice into half moons.
Roast at about 425 with salt and a generous amount of olive oil for about 20-25 minutes turning once.

Big Spoon Jam

This week I photographed my great friend Tina's artisan jam company: Big Spoon Jam. She makes deliciously unique preserves crafted from Washington fruit & honey. 

She's teamed up with the folks at Deru Market in Kirkland and will soon be selling their wares at an online store. The website is not up yet, but I will keep you posted.  Meanwhile, check out Big Spoon Jam on Facebook and the Deru Market Website.

Here are just a few of the shots.

Big Spoon Jam preserves

Pickled Fennel

Pickled Chanterelles

Figs

Fleur De Sel Carmel Sauce

Big Spoon Jam Preserves

Big Spoon Jam Preserves

Big Spoon Jam Preserves

Big Spoon Jam Preserves

Golden Beet and Blood Orange Fennel Salad

I don't Love beets. I feel like everybody has a really strong opinion about them; it's one of those things you love or you hate. I don't. I really like beets when every bite is accompanied by goat cheese. I guess I could say that about a lot of things. I think it's really the texture of beets that throws me off a bit. Now that I'm thinking about it, I havn't really given them much of a chance other than your typical overused menu item: "roasted beet salad with goat cheese and some kind of nut." I'm trying something new for me, a recipe with beets and no cheese. Golden Beets with Blood Orange and Fennel Salad. I think it sounds delicious. I'm excited about the citrus with the fennel alongside the sweetness of the beets. Maybe this recipe will turn me around.

Recipe for Blood Orange, Beet and Fennel Salad
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This week's basket had golden beets, romaine lettuce, apples, bok choy, rainbow carrots and again more pears. I've been waiting for some beets because I love their color and look. I don't know why, but my home delivery service likes to chop off the tops of the root veggies. I'm a bit baffled by that since using tops like beet greens are a great second use for beets. Total waste in my opinion. So, I had to make a run to Central Market for some more beets.

Cooking with beet greens:

Beet greens are similar to Chard or Kale. I cook them the same way I love to cook spinach. The younger and smaller the beets, the softer the texture of the beet green will be.

Sauteed Beet Greens, Spinach or Kale

1 bunch washed and drained greens

1-3 cloves garlic minced

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Salt

Heat oil in a deep skillet. Add garlic and give a quick saute. Add greens and cook down until wilted.  For spinach, I add the lemon and salt and take off the heat and serve right away.  For Kale and Beet greens, I let them cook just a minute or two in the pan covered.

Pear muffins with oatmeal crumble topping

I feel like we have been eating so meany pears this winter.  I've been getting them in my weekly produce delivery and buying them up at the grocery store cause my kids are eating them like candy.  I can't compain about that.  I was looking for something to do with them so i tried a pear muffin recipe.

 Pear Muffins with Oatmeal crumble recipe