Citrus Season

Happy 2014, friends!

There is so much I want to share with you, like this beautiful bowl of citrus.  Some of it, from our very own garden!  The lime tree that our friend Phillip Greenlief gave us as a wedding gift has begun to produce fruit.  Not all the limes in the above picture are from our tree, but a few of them are, as are the lemons, glorious meyer lemons!

Citrus is one of the things I love about winter, and in my rare moments of time recently, I've been enjoying creating all manner of citrus-laden treats:  lemon confit, fennel lemon relish, preserved lemons, lime syrup to use in lime spritzers, and citrus salad with tarragon.

The lime syrup and the fennel lemon relish recipes both come from the new Alice Waters book, The Art of Simple Food II.  If the second book is anything like the first, I know that I'll be referring to it often. The fennel lemon relish is simple and refreshing, and bursting with flavor.  And the lime syrup is fabulous mixed with sparkling water, and I'm betting it would also be very good mixed with a little splash of vodka!

Still looking forward to making limoncello, lemon sorbet and lemon cream.  Hopefully I'll be able to find the time before winter turns to spring.

Until next time, wishing you fruitful gardens, bright splashes of sunshine, and big bursts of flavor in every endeavor, culinary and otherwise.

Good Things Grow

Howdy and Happy Summer!

Wow, that last post was depressing.  But sometimes, that's just where we find ourselves.  Lately I've been finding myself putting on my fancy interviewing dress, and what some might consider a respectable pair of shoes.  And possibly, by the time I'm hired for my next fabulous job, I might have finally figured out how to comfortably walk in said shoes!  I don't know how you ladies out there walk in heels on a regular basis.  I'm way more comfortable in my dusty cowboy boots, but sometimes we have to push ourselves to embrace that place outside of our comfort zone.  And that's where I've been hanging out lately.

I'm happy to say that I've also been hanging out on the hiking trail with my trusted four legged pal Stella, and I've been spending a lot more time in the kitchen, too.  Oh, the things I have baked and fried and frozen, sautéed and chopped and diced and sprinkled with herbs and drizzled with olive oil!  Chocolate ice cream from scratch, roasted eggplant, triple ginger cookies, macaroni and cheese, lemon confit, roasted chicken, organic peach sorbet and all kinds of grilled things, thanks to our new-to-us gas grill that I found on Craigslist for $25!  Like many of us, it just needed a TLC to sparkle and shine.

I've also been spending more time in the garden, sweet garden. Our garden this year is humble but mighty.  We've been enjoying some of the best tomatoes we've ever grown, and chives and chard and lettuces and zucchini, always zucchini!  You cannot escape the zucchini!!

It occurred to me recently that the job search is not unlike the planting of a garden.  You plant your seeds, show up, pay attention, water, pull weeds and do the best you can with what you've got.  There are some forces you can't control, like the elements.  And some forces you might only narrowly be able to control, like critters.  But chances are good that if you're doing your best and paying attention and feeding the soil, good things will grow.  And when I've found myself feeling overwhelmed or discouraged with the job search, I've found it comforting to think of each resume and cover letter as a seed that I am planting in good faith. Who knows what will sprout out of it?  Maybe a new amazing adventure, possibly nothing at all.  But you just keep planting, and showing up, and paying attention, and doing the best you can with what you've got to work with, and just like in the garden, good things are bound to grow.  That feels like a good way to look at things right about now.

La La Lemon Love!

It's the time of year when lemon trees go wild.  I've found myself making lemon vinaigrette every week, dropping a slice of lemon into every glass of water, bringing large bags to work and when visiting friends,  and still, the lemon tree runneth over.  I made 2 jars of preserved lemons.  Still, not a dent was made.  So last weekend, I was delighted to meet up with my Food Groupies pals again to work on changing that.

Sabine brought this recipe to the group for lemon confit.  It doesn't sound like much.  Just take some lemon peels and blanch them a couple of times in boiling water in order to remove any bitterness, and then simmer them slowly in a combination of oil and lemon juice, seasoned with garlic.  It didn't seem like the sort of thing that would knock my socks off, but it's knocked them off the charts!  When we finished making this, we dabbed a little bit onto a baguette that we'd also dabbed with arugula pesto.  Then topped it with some sauteed greens.  Heavenly!  We all agreed that the combination of pesto & this lemon confit would make a perfect sauce for pasta.  And now that I have a little jar of it, and a seemingly endless supply of lemons, I'm excited that I'll get to make this a staple in my refrigerator as long as the lemons last!  A little bit goes a long way and adds such sparkle.  The other day for lunch, I diced a hard boiled egg and chopped some kalamata olives, and stirred a bit of this sparkly stuf into the combo, and used it to top a green salad for lunch...with lemon vinaigrette, of course! I think it would also be great stirred into soup, or spread on fish or chicken.

Next up, we made this recipe for Tartine Bakery's lemon cream:  lemon curd's creamier, dreamier cousin. I have recently become a very big fan of the Food52 web site's Genius recipes, and this one is no exception.  It is described as "...your new tart filling, scone spread, and trifle layer -- and the best lemon pudding you'll ever taste.", and that pretty much sums it up!

We adapted the lemon confit recipe ever so slightly, so here it is below with our adaptations.  As for the lemon cream, I wouldn't change a thing!

I am very happy to have discovered both of these recipes, and grateful for the little extra bit of brightness they bring about in the winter.

Lemon Confit

Slightly adapted from Epicurious, by Sondra Bernstein

4 lemons

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup canola oil *(you may also use grapeseed oil or a combo of grapeseed and canola, as we did.)

1 garlic clove

Pinch of salt

Using vegetable peeler, remove peel (yellow part only) from lemons in long strips.  Cut the strips into thinner strips, approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide, kind of like confetti!  *The original recipe didn't call for this, but we found the large strips to be awkward & bulky, and figured the smaller pieces would work better for spreading the final result, and we were all quite happy with that call.

Squeeze 6 tablespoons juice from lemons.

Blanch the peels in small saucepan of boiling water 10 seconds; drain. Repeat twice.

Bring the 6 tablespoons lemon juice, olive oil, canola oil, garlic, and pinch of salt to simmer in small saucepan. Add lemon peels and simmer over low heat until peels are soft, about 1 hour. Cool.

 DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. Keep chilled and completely covered in oil. Always use clean fork to remove lemon.