This salad is so good and so pretty, you should not pass it by! Especially if you have a freezer full of citrus juice. If you need a refresher course on how to section citrus, click on the links in the ingredient list and it will take you there. Ditto for the citrus sugar, although regular granulated sugar may be used, the citrus sugar gives it an extra kick.

Oops, almost forgot to tell you… I’ll be on NBC Channel 12 Valley Dish tomorrow with Tram Mai, celebrating the show’s 1 year anniversary. Tune in or Tivo it, like I do, at 3:30.

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It may be too cold outside to have an actual Creamsicle, but it’s always the right time for an orangesicle smoothie! And as you can see by the picture below, I’m utilizing my frozen cubes of orange juice and orange zest.

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Friday, January 7, 2011

7:30 AM – Awake, shower, dress, eat breakfast and put up a blog post for the day.

9:40 AM – Open email and find this gem:

Happy New Year Linda!
Been following your blog and your bumper crop of citrus. I bought an ACME years ago when our landscape included many prolific citrus trees. It juices at lightning speed! Would you like to borrow mine? Let me know and I’ll drop it by ; )
Jeanie

9:43 AM – Immediately Reply:

Oh, Jeanie, you are a lifesaver! YES, a thousand times, YES! Thank you so much, I was actually thinking of putting out a neighborhood search for a juicer I could borrow. I’ll have to show you the one I have, you will die laughing when you see it! Thank you! xoxo
Linda

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Guess what that big pile of citrus that I showed you last week, looks like now? Exactly the same as it did then, except it has a blanket covering it. It’s all still overflowing in the crates, still sitting on the back patio, right outside the French doors, staring through the windows at me. Mocking me and saying, “Hey, you there – stop what you’re doing and get to the work at hand; zesting and squeezing us!”

But I continue to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to that pile and TRY and keep motivated enough to get all the Christmas stuff taken down and put away. 

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back to front: pink grapefruit, navel orange, Mexican lime, Lisbon lemon, Meyer lemon, and blood orange

In April, it will be two years since we remodeled our backyard and this winter has, literally, showing the fruits of our labor. We added blood orange, Meyer lemon, and Mexican lime tree to our existing navel orange, Lisbon lemon, and pink grapefruit – for a true citrus grove!  Last year did not produce any new fruits, but this year, the proof is in the colorful picture above and I am one happy girl! The Meyer lemon has been the most prolific of the three new trees. These cookies are delicious with regular lemon zest too, so don’t discount them if you can’t find Meyer lemons.

The almond meal can be found at most grocery stores under the Bob’s Red Mill brand and at Trader Joe’s.

Or you can make your own almond meal: For about 1 1/3 cups almond meal, place 2 cups whole, unbalanced almonds in a food processor, and pulse several times until a medium-fine textured meal forms. Do Not over-process or you will end up with almond butter! Put the ground almond meal in a clean flour sifter, sift and place any large almond particles back into the processor and pulse again, sift. That’s all it takes!

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My various citrus trees are producing pounds upon pounds of citrus. The oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are being picked and eaten or used in cooking daily. The limes, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m grateful for that, I can’t keep up as it is! So don’t be surprised to see citrus popping up in just about every post from here on out, for months to come.

To kick it off here is a quick and light salad using another couple of favorites; avocado and fennel. The fennel bulb, fronds (leaves), and seeds are used in cooking. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and may be sauteed, roasted, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw.  The fronds are delicately flavored and look very similar in shape to dill. The seeds are used either fresh or can be found dried in the spice aisle. The hollow stems are tough and stringy and are usually discarded or used in making vegetable stock. Fennel pollen is actually the most potent form of fennel but is very expensive and difficult to find. Fennel grows like a weed, so be sure to cultivate the pollen yourself, if you grow fennel in your garden, it is amazing! For this salad, we’re using the bulb and a few of the fronds, as garnish. If you can not find, or do not want to pay the price for, blood oranges or Meyer lemons, use regular oranges and lemons instead.

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For me, once November hits, it is cider time. Even though it’s still not quite fall temperatures during the day (today’s high is predicted to be 87 degrees!), the evenings are nice and cool, so I’m ready for a hot beverage!  Here’s one of my favorites – spicy and just a little sweet. [Read more →]