Winter Citrus Salad With Shrimp,Goat Cheese And Beets

Pin It

It seems everywhere I turn in the blogosphere, or in the world of printed media, there is yet another recipe for a citrus salad.  If it's January/February in the world of food, it is citrus.  Nothing else is as exciting as oranges, pomelos or grapefruit, or variations thereof.  No more soups...that is so January.   So here's Lindaraxa's take, and that's just because she found herself cleaning her refrigerator in the middle of a major ice storm, and a citrus salad in February is de rigeur.

I don't know about you, but I have this wonderful can opener, made by a German company, that opens a can and pretty much seal it at the same time.  Things stay fresher that way and, right now, I find myself with lots of sealed cans in the refrigerator that have to be dealt with... like mandarin oranges, Le Seur peas and beets.

It is freezing today, this is Georgia, and we have already two inches of snow on the ground where I live.  Nobody is going to work, and that includes my daughter.  Lunchtime is approaching and I want to make something special, for lunch, on a snowy day, for my daughter.   So here's killing two birds with one stone:

Citrus Salad With Shrimp, Goat Cheese And Beets

Lunch For Two

Ingredients:

1  large navel orange, mandarin or  tangelo
2 hard boiled eggs
6 steamed shrimp
8 black imported (kalamata) black olives, pitted

Vinaigrette

½ teaspoon finely minced garlic
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 heaping teaspoon freshly chopped fresh cilantro, or more

1 head, or more, Butter Lettuce
Thin slices of red onion
Pickled sliced red beets
1/2 cup goat cheese
thinly sliced red pepper
chick peas (optional)

Directions:

Trim off the ends of the orange, mandarin or tangelo. Peel them, then cut into quarter inch slices and put them in a mixing bowl. Add the olives and steamed shrimp.

To make the vinaigrette, place the garlic, vinegar and oil, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper in a small jar with a tight lid and shake well. Pour half the vinaigrette over the oranges, shrimp and olives and toss well.

In a big salad bowl, break the lettuce leaves in medium bites, add the red onion, beets, sliced red peppers and chick peas (if using) and toss well.  Add the shrimp, orange mix, the additional vinaigrette and toss again.  Correct for seasonings and dressing.  Sprinkle the goat cheese and the hard boiled eggs.

 Easily doubled or tripled. For a more formal lunch, add a hot soup to begin with and a crusty baguette.

Photos and recipe Lindaraxa

Mostarda...La Mostarda di Agrumi

Pin It

Mostarda is a distinctive fruit conserve that mixes the intense spice of mustard with the sweet flavors of candied fruit.   Over the centuries the agrodolce flavor characteristic of mostarda has taken on countless variations. By the 19th century there were many cities with their own versions, and the varieties of mostarda made in Cremona became widely regarded as the most special because of the complexity of their ingredients.

The word mostarda is traced to the Latin word ardens, or ardente in Italian. Ardente means burning, and it refers to the spice of the white mustard flour that was once added to the unfermented grape must, or mustum, to make mustum ardens. In French, this spicy conserve was called moût ardent, which then became moutarde, and was translated into Italian as mostarda. While its name may come from French, mostarda is entirely an Italian specialty, and like most of the country’s recipes, there are several regional versions of this preserve.

In Lombardy, the mostarda of Mantova is prepared with sliced quince, apple or local pear, and in the nearby town of Viadana, a spicier version is made with passacrassana pears, a winter variety with dense flesh. Puréed quince and pears, mixed with candied orange and citron peel, characterize most mostarda from the Veneto region, except for that from Verona, which calls for vegetables. Grape must is still used in some recipes from Emilia-Romagna, where it is mixed with quince, pear and prune.

According to tradition, mostarda is served in the fall, paired with bollito misto, Italian boiled meats. Today, mostarda is not limited to a single season and complements a wide range of foods. For the mostarda of Cremona, each fruit has its own dish: fig mostarda is served with herbed cheese and salumi; clementine mostarda with roast meats and fresh cheeses; while tome cheese, prosciutto cotto and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are all ideal pairs for mostarda with pumpkin. With pear mostarda, serve Parmigiano-Reggiano and Felino salame, and for melon, serve culatello and fresh cow’s milk cheeses. The mostarda of Mantova, a fundamental ingredient in the local tortelli, is great with boiled white meat and medium-aged cheeses.

Mostarda is difficult to find in this country but easy enough to make at home if you are looking for authentic flavors that are bright and pure. Serve a small bowl of this citrus-flavored recipe alongside fresh cheeses, or pair it with roasted meats. The preserve's sweet and sour flavors also play well with fish and shellfish.

I personally love pear mostarda paired with Roquefort or Stilton and I will try to find a good recipe to post in the future.

If you like the idea but don't want to go through the (slight) trouble of making it, you can buy Mostarda di Cremona and Mostarda di Milano through Amazon.com, although I can guarantee it just won't be the same!

La Mostarda Di Agrumi

Makes 3 cups


Ingredients

4 navel oranges

3 lemons

1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) acacia honey

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 fresh rosemary sprigs

2 tablespoons dry mustard

2 tablespoons dry white wine


Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut off a 1/2-inch slice from top and bottom of each orange to expose fruit, then score orange peel from top to bottom at 1/4-inch intervals, cutting through pith, with a sharp knife. Pull off each strip of peel, including pith, with your fingers. (Reserve fruit for another use.) Repeat with lemons. Cut peels in half widthwise.

Fill a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan with 4 cups water; bring water to boil. Add citrus peels, return water to boil and cook for 1 minute. Drain peels and run under cold water to cool. Pat dry with paper towel.

Combine honey and 1/2 cup cold water in a large saucepan; bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat. Add peels, reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Return mixture to simmer and cook until peels are semi-translucent and honey syrup is reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 25 minutes more.

Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl; drain peels, reserving honey syrup. Transfer peels to prepared baking sheet and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine sugar, 1 cup cold water and lemon juice; bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is clear and slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add rosemary sprigs; let syrup cool for 10 minutes, then remove and discard sprigs. Whisk in reserved honey syrup.

In a small saucepan, whisk together mustard and wine. Set over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add mustard mixture to syrup mixture and whisk well to combine.

Transfer peels to a 4-cup heatproof glass jar with a lid. Pour syrup over peels (discard any remaining syrup), seal jar and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 10 days


Information recipe and photo from La Cucina Italiana

Lemon, Orange or Grand Marnier Souffle

Pin It

Tonight, looking through some of my earlier unpublished post, I realized I had never posted this recipe.  It is for variations of Mark Bittman's fool proof chocolate souffle which I posted last year. Now, I pride myself on being willing and able to tackle almost anything in the kitchen, but when it comes to bread and souffles, I have to admit I'm a little skittish.  Luckly, I have a mother and a daughter who love me enough to act as guinea pigs and on those occasions, I have been mostly successful.  BUT, when it comes to making them for company I turn into a jellyfish.

I made the chocolate souffle last year for a dear friend from Geneva who was very impressed, or so he told me.  He used to work for me and is a darling man, and maybe he was just been gracious for old times sakes. But I don't think so,  I was kind of proud of it myself too!  I haven't had another willing young man over for another go at it, but I am sharing this with you because it is the exact same recipe except with different flavorings.  I am partial to the lemon souffle, particularly at this time of the year, so that is the one I would tackle next...maybe with meyer lemons??? I have in mind to try an apricot souffle next, as soon as they are in season.

If you want to make individual soufflés, use a little more butter and grease four 1 1/2- to 2-cup ramekins.

Yield 4 to 6 servings

Time About 45 minutes


Ingredients

About 1 teaspoon unsalted butter for the dish

1 cup sugar, plus some for the dish

6 eggs, separated

1 tablespoon minced or grated lemon or orange zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice or Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur*

Pinch salt

Powdered sugar (optional)

Method

1. Butter a 2-quart soufflé or other deep baking dish. Sprinkle the dish with sugar, invert it, and tap to remove excess sugar. Set aside and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the egg yolks with 3/4 cup of the sugar until light and very thick; the mixture will fall in a ribbon from the ends of the beaters when it is ready. Beat in the flavorings and set aside.

2. Beat the egg whites with the salt until they hold soft peaks; continue to beat, gradually adding the remaining 1/4 cup sugar,* until they are very stiff but still glossy. Stir a good spoonful of them thoroughly into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites, using a rubber spatula or your hand. Transfer to the prepared soufflé dish(es) and bake until the center is nearly set, 25 to 35 minutes (15 to 25 minutes for individual soufflés). Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.


*add 1 TB zest to egg whites

Arun Manansingh's Quick Cake for Tough Times

Pin It Arun Manansingh is my new best friend. He is a fellow blogger whom I met at a business oriented social website called Linkedin. It's a friends of friends type of networking, where you link to others through trusted contracts. Arun and I met at an online business forum where I started a discussion regarding blogging and unemployed Wall Street executives. We have never met face to face and we do not have any contacts in common, but we do have something more important that binds us together, we have started blogging in search of new opportunities and to keep our spirit alive. We make strange blogfellows, he is in his late 30's and I am a woman of a certain age...

Until fairly recently, Arun had a very senior position as head of IT for a Wall Street firm and now writes a blog called A CIO's Epilogue. If you want to know everything about IT and in the process meet a very nice man, visit his site. I have designated him Lindaraxa's Chief Technology Officer, a job Im sure he treasures. Today he asked me if I let people contribute recipes to my site. I told him no, only friends and family. So, with that in mind (drumroll), here is Arun Manansingh's Quick Cake for Tough Times.

INGREDIENTS

1 pk Yellow cake mix (I find Duncan Hines Moist yellow cake to be the best)

1 small vanilla instant pudding (the cheaper the better)

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable Oil

1 cup orange juice (with pulp)

GLAZE

1 cup confection sugar

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup orange juice (same as above)

1 teaspoon of orange zest



INSTRUCTIONS

Mix cake mix, pudding, eggs, oil and orange juice together.

Pour into greased bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Glaze: Mix above ingredients together. Boil on very low heat ingredients for 2 minutes. Let cool slightly until glaze begins to harden. Pour over cake.

Arun's Note: You can substitute the orange for any juice you like. I have tried Apple and mango and it comes out great.