For the first time in months, the high temperature has been under 100 degrees. The high 90’s may not seem like much a of reprieve to most people, but for those of us in the Valley of Sun, it’s a huge difference. It is most likely more of  a break mentally, but it makes us happy and gives us hope that fall is finally on its way!

So, duck is not traditionally thought of as a warm weather dish, but it was surprising refreshing, even on a 96 degree day. It was inspired by a recipe I’d seen by Tyler Florence, one of my favorite celebrity chefs.

I saved the water used for steaming the duck, poured it into a large glass measuring cup and chilled it. Then I removed the top layer of fat and used the water underneath to boil jasmine rice as an accompaniment for the duck. Finally, I seasoned the rice with salt and a few dashes of Chinese five-spice. 

Although this recipe takes about 2 hours to cook, the actual hands-on time is less than 10 to 15 minutes.

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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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Turkey-Day is only 7 days away!!! Complete Thanksgiving Planning Guide and Timeline.

Shhh, don’t tell my family, but I am going to make different rolls this Thanksgiving. This is a big deal!  There will be whining, complaining, moaning, crying, and even a possible revolt, but I’m still going to do it! Our traditional roll is the absolutely delicious and addictive James Beard Potato Bread Rolls that I made each year. The thing is, I also make these rolls only a short 4 weeks later for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas day dinner, and use the same dough for my killer Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls on Christmas morning. So… these people, who I have to feed every single day, (sometimes up to 3 times a day!) can try something different on Thanksgiving this year! That something different will be cloverleaf rolls.

Cloverleaf rolls sometimes have tiny crosses marked on each of the three sections, referring to the Holy Trinity, which in Ireland is often compared to the clover. I’ll save that little embellishment for Easter. You may also dip the balls in melted butter after forming and before placing in the muffin cups, that makes for one very rich roll!  Another option is to brush the tops of the rolls (after rising in the muffin tins) with and egg wash or melted butter and then sprinkle the tops of the rolls with sesame, poppy, or mixed seeds. Do so if you wish.

The composed butter that accompanies the rolls calls for pomegranate molasses, which I’ve posted about before and you can get the recipe for by CLICKING HERE. You can make a full 1 cup recipe or reduce it by two-thirds, which will produce exactly 1/3 cup, as called for.  And finally, I’ve added a pumpkin variation for this recipe, just in case, you too, want to mix things up next week. That and the measurements for a scaled down amount of pomegranate molasses are found at the bottom of this post.

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I don’t know if you’ve figured it out yet, but I LOVE soup!  Honestly, I could have soup for dinner five nights a week and be as happy as a clam. You’ll find that just about all of my previous soup recipes call for chicken stock or broth (not sure what the difference is between broth and stock? Click HERE to find out). But now that I’m working towards the goal of eating more vegetarian, more often – I will be using vegetable stock, more often. Of course, vegetarians already know to substitute vegetable broth in any recipe, soup or otherwise, that calls for chicken broth. I will be going back and putting that option into all my previous soup recipes posted here and then listing them in the new “Vegetarian” category on The Recipe Index, for those of us who may need a little reminding.  You can purchase vegetable broth in boxes or cans beside the chicken, beef, and fish broths, or make your own. My favorite recipe for a rich roasted vegetable broth is posted here, right below the soup recipe.

Since not everyone in my house in on-board with my goal, I do have added the option to place some chopped smoked salmon on top of the soup as a garnish. It is pretty darn tasty that way, so do as you please.
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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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There are some dishes that should be saved for the company, just like some people save the good towels for the guest bathroom. This is one of those dishes, it is a treat and should only be had on rare occasions to keep it that way. We’ve had a special guest for the weekend, so I made this for the family on Sunday morning. So nice to have you stay with us Albert, have a great semester at UA and practice up on the ping-pong!

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