Candied Orange, Lemon and Grapefruit Peel

I think it must be my English heritage, because I love candied citrus peel. When I eat this sweet old fashioned winter treat, I feel like the spring sunshine is already here. Or maybe it's the Scot in me that just likes the concept of making a sweet treat out of something most people throw out. It citrus time here in central California, so my naval orange tree, and my parent's lemon and grapefruit trees are bearing lovely fruit. I save the peels during the week and then do a batch of mixed citrus peel on the weekend.

There are 3 keys to making a good batch of candied peel. First it's important to remove as much of the bitter white pith from the peel as possible. Secondly, blanch the peel using fresh cool water each time, three times before cooking the peel in simple syrup. And lastly, add about ¼ cup of triple sec to the simple syrup and let the peel soak overnight, before draining and drying. I prefer the peel to be semi dry not brittle, so I slowly dry in the oven rather than in a dehydrator. If you want to give the peel a glamorous touch, you can dip one end in dark chocolate.

Candied Citrus Peel

3-5 orange peels, from peeling them into 8 sections.

2 lemons

3 cups of water

2 cups sugar

¼ cup Triple Sec liqueur

½ + cup sugar for coating

1. Cut the pith, the white part between the fruit and the peel, away from each peel section, using a paring knife or grapefruit knife. Cut these thin peels into strips.
   
2. Place the peel strips in a large sauce pan with a lemon half. Add water to cover blanch; bring to a boil and boil for 15 seconds, then drain and rinse under cold water, drain again and discard the lemon.
   
3. Repeat the blanching process 2 more times, covering the peels with fresh water and adding another lemon half.
   
4. Combine the 3 cups of water and the sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the peels and remaining half lemon. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 15 mins.
   
5. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Triple Sec liqueur. Leave the peel in the liquid loosely covered for at least 12 hours.
   
6. Remove the peel from the liquid and set on a rack to drain. Place in a warm oven, with the heat off. When semi –dry toss with granulated sugar to coat. Return to warm oven to continue drying. Store in an aire tight container.
   
7. Optional: dip one end in dark chocolate

Seasonal sweet treats: February means chocolate!

In the first Seasonal Table class of the year and spring semester, we made several citrus curds. Curds are old fashion pudding type spreads, made with juice and zest of lemon, tangerine or orange, and several egg yolks as well butter. (I will post that recipe soon) This meant a big jar with a dozen leftover egg whites. Although the heavy rain was great for the crops, it wasn't ideal weather for making meringue. I was asked to bring a chocolate treat to an art reception so I forged ahead despite the humidity, and made Chocolate Pistachio Meringue Kisses. They came out perfectly and I only increased the bake time by about ½ hour to compensate for the rain. They are also non-fat which makes them a sweet guilt free treat. The local pistachios are from Ornadi Farms and added a touch of color and crunch. Make a batch to share with your Valentine !

Chocolate Meringue Cookies

6 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1 /2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate cocoa
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp finely chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup cocoa and sugar together; set aside.

In a large bowl using your electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy/frothy

While beating to the frothy stage, add salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract. After reaching the frothy stage, add the cocoa/sugar mixture (1 tablespoons at a time) while continuing beating until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.

Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets (1-inch apart).

Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the non-baked cookies.

Bake 90 minutes; turn off the oven, open the door slightly (secure with a wooden spoon), and allow cookies to cool in the oven.

Remove from oven and store in a tightly covered (airtight) container.

Yields 50 cookies.

Turnip and Potato Soup

This warm creamy soup is prefect for the cold wet weather. It’s nice to have the rain for the farmers and their future spring crops. In the meantime, I wanted to make good use of the lovely turnips and leeks I found on the KMK Farms table in Visalia last Saturday. This soup tastes like the classic French leek soup but with a bit more structure and earthiness with the addition of turnips. If you don’t have a parsnip, you can replace it with a couple more stakes of chopped celery. I served it with some of the no-knead bread, served open face with melted cheddar chive cheese and a kumquat topped green salad. I served a French wine Les Arpents Chenin Blanc, 2007, from the Loire Valley. It’s light, crisp and very food friendly, with low 11.5% alcohol, and a great bargain at $3.00 from my local Grocery Outlet.

Turnip & Potato Winter Soup

serves 6

INGREDIENTS

2-3 large leeks, cleaned and trimmed to 2 inches off greens above the white, to make about ½ cup

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

4 large celery stalks, trimmed and finely diced

1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 med potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3 med turnips, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

7 cups chicken broth

salt & pepper to taste

¾ cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely slice the leeks and rinse under water, drain and set aside.
2. In a heavy Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the leeks and celery and cook until soft but NOT brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the potato, parsnip, turnips and broth and season with salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft.
4. With a slotted spoon remove 1 ½ cups of the vegetables to a side dish and reserve. Transfer the remaining vegetables and broth to a food processor and process until smooth.
5. Return the soup to the casserole together with the reserved vegetables, add the heavy cream, and just hear through.
6. DO NOT Bring to a boil, or the cream will separate. Taste and correct the seasoning and serve hot with crusty French bread and a salad J

Liquid sunshine-Limoncello

It’s citrus season in the San Joaquin Valley and at Visalia Farmer’s market. That means its time to make my favorite liquor, Limoncello. This is a lovely sweet lemon-flavored Italian liquor and reminds me of delicious multiple course midday meals in the summer of 2002 in Umbria and Tuscany. And it’s very easy to make.

If available you can use citron instead of lemons. Visalia has a great source of unique of citrus with farmer Greg Kirkpatrick. He has Bhudda's hand, citron, kiffer lime leaves and other exotic citrus. He also sells his citron to Hanger One for their citron vodka. Everclear, 151 proof, 75.5% alcohol, is usually found in 'real liquor ' stores, not grocery or big box stores. Don’t worry about the high proof, because you will be cutting the alcohol with a simple syrup. In a pinch you can use vodka instead of Everclear. If you store it in the freezer and you’ll have cool refreshing homemade limoncello for toasting at the end of your summer meals. I try to make it before the winter holidays, to give as gifts in small decorative bottles.

Saluti per tutti!

Limoncello, or Liquore di Limoni

INGREDIENTS

10 washed lemons, preferably hand picked, home grown organic

1 liter of Everclear Grain alcohol

2 ½ cups sugar

6 cups of water

DIRECTIONS

1. Zest the lemons, removing only the peel and avoiding the white pith which is bitter.
2. Put the zest and the alcohol in a large glass jar with a tight fitting lid. It should cover the lemon zest.
3. Set aside for 4 days. Once a day, gently shake the jar to agitate the mixture.
4. When the zest is pale and the liquid is a deep yellow color, strain it through a sieve and store in another container. Discard the zest.
5. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, but do not boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear, about 5 minutes. Cool.
6. When cool, pour the syrup in the lemon infused alcohol. It will turn cloudy and opaque. Sample it and add more sugar of water as desired.
7. Using a funnel pour into clean dry 750 ml bottles. Set aside to mellow for a week or more.
8. This is excellent over fresh fruit, over ice cream or as sparking aperitif added to Prosecco.

No Knead Bread is heavenly and easy!

Nothing smells more welcoming and comforting than a loaf of fresh bread baking in the oven. It’s been cold, foggy and dreary here so I’ve been making bread to keep my spirits up and to accompany all the soups, you’ve seen in previous posts. I’ve been working on art and print making during my winter break so most dinners have a hearty warm soup and slice of this fresh bread. This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated and is a refinement of the original Mark Bittiman New York Times version. It’s so easy, that it’s foolproof, just make sure you use rapid rise or instant yeast not regular.

Because I keep my thermostat at 64 (and I wear polar fleece and Uggs to keep warm), I usually set the bowl of dough on top of the refrigerator where it’s likely to be warmest. The bread is best eaten the day you bake it but will keep longer. While you’re making the next batch, you can use the last few slices for breakfast pain perdu, French toast. It makes great garlic croutons for salads and soup. It’s also a great money saver, when compared to a $4-5 artisan loaf of bread.

Almost no knead bread

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface

¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 ½ tsp teaspoons table salt

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms.
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
3. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times.
4. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray.
5. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
6. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.
7. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough.
8. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer.
10. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. If you need to go to bed, or leave it out longer, put it in a brown paper bag to cools and the crust will be prefect.

White Beans with Grass fed Beef Italian Sausage and Spinach

This dish was inspired by a wonderful lunch while I was on vacation over New Years in Sonoma County. We wandered on rainy country roads, and found ourselves in Bodega Bay. A gallery owner in Valley Ford, suggested a place that specializes in local seasonal produce, Terrapin Creek. They were still serving and although my first choice, crab cakes were sold out, I was very pleased with my warm comforting and healthy white beans and sausage. While I waited for my meal I recalled reading about this lovely little restaurant in a recent Sunset magazine, which the Andrew Truong the co-owner, confirmed. In my verision below, I used local grass fed beef Italian sausage, from Springville Ranch, and fresh spinach from my own garden.

White Beans with Grass fed Beef Italian Sausage and Spinach

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dried cannellini or great northern beans, washed and soaked overnight

1 bay leaf

1 med onion cut in half 2 quarts of water

1 medium onion chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary ½ tsp fennel seeds crushed

¼ tsp pepper flakes

kosher salt

1 lb pound Italian sweet sausage, cut into 3 inch pieces

10-12 oz cleaned and stemmed fresh spinach

DIRECTIONS

1. Drain the beans. Combine the drained beans with water in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, reduce the heat to low and add the halved onion, and the bay leaf and cover. Allow to simmer for 1 1/2 hours, until the beans are very tender. Drain over a bowl and measure out 1 cup of the broth. Discard the halved onion and bay leaf. OR this can be done in about 12-15 minutes in a pressure cooker.
2. While the beans are cooking, heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage. Browned lightly, about 7 to 11 minutes.
   
3. Add the chopped onions, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the herbs, reserved beans and reserved broth, and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning as desired with salt and pepper.
   
4. Just before serving, add the spinach. Cook until wilted but still bright green. Serve with toasted and buttered country bread.

Japanese Turnip- Hakurei Salad

Recently my farmer friend, Kyle Reynolds of KMK Farms,introduced me to a new winter salad ingredient, the Japanese turnip Hakurei. It was similar to a radish in texture but without the spiciness, making it a good choice to serve picky eaters like children and the elderly. I added another local product, walnuts and candied them quickly in local honey and maple syrup in a small saucepan. I also used our local Fuji apples, but other apple varieties will work fine. My dressing of choice is the usual homemade wine vinegar and local oil olive, with a grind of fresh pepper and a pinch of Hawaiian sea salt. It looked a little bland so I tossed on a few pomegranate seeds and kumquat slices to add color.

Hatari, Apple and Candied Walnuts Salad

3 Hakurei Turnips, washed, unpeeled and thinly sliced

1 med apple, cored and thinly sliced

¼ c candied walnuts, chopped coarsely

fresh lettuce washed and torn

optional: pomegranate seeds and kumquat slices

olive oil, wine vinegar

Right before serving, toss the turnip and apples slices with the dressing in a small bowl. Add a grind of fresh pepper and pinch of salt. Arrange a handful of lettuce on individual plates, top with the turnip and apple slices. Sprinkle on the chopped walnuts, and optional ingredients. Drizzle on more dressing if desired.