Blood orange and Passion fruit sorbet

blood orange and passion fruit sorbet

I found some passion fruit at the Downey Farmers Market last week and brought them home wondering what I could do with them.  Hmmmmmm.

Alice Waters helped me out with this recipe from her Fruit recipe book.  Here's the recipe:

Passion Fruit Sherbet:

Ingredients:

3 pounds of oranges (enough to make 3 cups of juice)..I used blood oranges

8 passion fruit (I only had 4 so made that do)

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract ( I mistakingly used 1 full tsp and would repeat this)

optional 1 tsp Cointreau

 Method:

Juice the oranges, stain and measure 3 cups

Cut passion fruit in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds into a small saucepan.

Add the sugar and 1 cup of the orange juice

Heat gently and stir until sugar is dissolved

Press and scrape through a fine meshed strainer with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula

Add the remaining orange juice, the vanilla and the Cointreau if using

Chill thoroughly

Freeze in your home ice cream freezer

Remember I used blood oranges,  They are pretty much only available in January and February.  But the blood orange juice gives this sorbet a gorgeous color:

passion fruit

blood oranges cross sectioned

sorbet liquid ready for the ice cream freezer

Fruit

This sorbet is not too sweet but enough..has a nice sour "bite" and would go well following a spicy dinner.  Alice suggests serving it with a delicate butter cookie or  coconut macaroons

I think I'll just go and have some all by itself.

Bon appetit!

footnote:  I am taking Alice Waters' Masterclass available at https://www.masterclass.com/homepage

               

8140 salad- original and 2.0

I live at 8140 Orange Street. I moved here 5 months ago with a very long "to do" list...it's still very long.  A couple of months ago I planted my inspiration garden.  I planted 3 very small citrus trees and then sprinkled flower and lettuce seeds to fill the space.  Now just a few weeks later my lettuces are mature enough to harvest along with a few other goodies from my garden.  I have a pomegranate tree.  My next door neighbor has a blood orange tree with a generous branch hanging over my wall.  I planted radishes AND I have a small herd of goats.  This salad came from my garden.  I'm going to call it the 8140 garden since all ingredients came from the property (well I guess I need to call it the "8140 salad with walnuts"

8140 salad

Start with the arugula:

arugula

Add some sliced blood oranges:

blood orange tree-January

blood orange slices

Well thin slice a couple of radishes:

radishes

Pomegranate arils, goat cheese and walnuts.  I used a little orange juice in the vinaigrette.

So last night I made a 2.0 version:

8140 2.0

My red oak leaf lettuce was ready, sugar snap peas and these lovely nastursiums...yes they are edible.

So my "8140 salad" is any combination of food items that come directly from my property and add a handful of California nut meats.

Bon Appetit!

Welcome to my January garden and the Huntington

 I am in my grandparents home.  When I was a child I lived 200 feet away, around the corner or through the back yards- whichever route was the choice of the day.  My Grandmother had a row of camellias in front of the house planted in the perfect spot: on the North side of the house in shade.  Camellias bloom in January and February in the "cool" months of California.  I have always loved them.  When I returned five months ago to this house I wondered how the camellias were doing.  Well they are still gorgeous:

There are five bushes.  Here is a sampling from each bush

bowl of one of each

the most prolific pink

The Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino (near Pasadena) has a wonderful selection of camellias in their Japanese gardens.  (Camellias are native to Japan) so last week I took a lovely day trip to the gardens.

The gardens has a wonderful collection of art

Also a spectacular rose garden.  It is rose pruning time but these beauties (Jump for Joy) had not had their turn.  Lucky me

Jump for joy

stocks

I found the camellia gardens and they were filled with color

In a very tranquil setting.  Yes there were many other people visiting this day...You just don't notice that they are anywhere near

Japanese garden walk

tea house and restaurant

But to my surprise the camellias were not as showy as I remembered.  The docent said it had something to do with the heat last July being so intense (118 deg).  So when I returned home I returned to my front porch and the plants that have been neglected for at least twenty years.

red with bee

and I appreciated all the love my Grandmother had for her garden,  I have the red ones in a glass bowl.  I promise they will be loved and appreciated ( and fed) for as long as I am in this home

red in glass bowl

Merry Christmas from my home to yours

I'm pretty sure by now all of you have your house ready for Christmas.  The tree is up and there are plenty of decorations new and old around the house.  Welcome in to my "new" home:

welcome to my home

Each year I have a theme to my decor and packages.  This year it is HOME.  This is a perfect theme this year for me.  After 8 years in Denver I have had my share and then some if white Christmases.  They are surely beautiful but also cold.  And then the cold lasts and lasts until ----well too long for this California native.  So this year I packed myself and half of my farm and came home.  Home where I feel like I belong.  The weather is great ( 75 degrees outside while I am making this post)  I have family and friends somewhat nearby; the beach is about 30 minutes away and I have this house that I am living in as a huge project,  So I am happy to be home.  Let me share a little bit with you:

Home Christmas tree

I made this appliqué quilt several years ago but it is still sweet:

applique quilt

Grandma's house and packages under the tree

sweet little galvanized house ornament

This year's cocktail: pomegranate and something bubbly:

pomegranate cocktail

recipe:

1 oz pomegranate juice

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

4 oz champagne or sparkling cider

4-5 pomegranate arils

And then there are always the cookies:

Christmas cookies

Merry Christmas to all and may 2019 be all you dream it can be!!

Inspiration Hummingbird garden

Take a peek at my new garden in California.  Like everything else here this area needed a lot of love on my arrival.  The earth was so dry and compact that it took me several days to turn each 4 foot area.  That's all I could do at a time.  I'd turn the soil and water again and again then I'd plant an area and then repeat.  But hard work, a dream of what it will look like and great California weather got me through

lipstick hibiscus

I started with the idea of a Zen garden and then that morphed into a meditation garden.  But as kept digging and planting I realized that it was all turning lipstick pink, bright orange and raspberry....all the colors that attract hummingbirds.  So now I call it my Inspiration garden

inspiration garden

I placed some trellises in strategic spots to guide sweet peas and sugar snap peas as well as hide the barnyard.  I have been harvesting the sugar snaps already.  (Well it is California - in Denver we'd all be under snow)

poppies and snapdragons

After planting the hibiscus, 3 citrus trees (blood orange, Meyer lemon, and kumquat) poppies, echinacea, snapdragons, gerber daisies and salvia  I sprinkled in lots of seeds.  Already I have radishes, cilantro marigolds and nasturtiums.

seed packets

Well I planted two roses as well and these Gerber Daisies:

gerbera daisies

The invitation is out for the hummingbirds.  No takers yet but I trust they will find their way.

Happy Thanks to you and your family and friends

Ten year flashback:

Here is my sweet little Kate at age 21 months enjoying her Thanksgiving feast including potato rolls dipped in mashed potatoes.  Her face says it all: "This is good"

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this.

Happy Kate

potato rolls

I am in California.  Ella is in Denver.  Ella is going to make these rolls solo this year because we are not together.  She has been my sous chef for several years and last year we switched and I became her sous chef.  You got this Ella!

Recipe posted 11/2008

My First Choice in Turkey!!

Gobble Gobble Gobble!!!
I've prepared a lot of Thanksgiving meals through the years and have loved doing it.  Last year was different because I taught or prepared SIX turkeys as a Williams-Sonoma associate and class instructor.  The Spicy Stuffed Turkey Breast was my favorite.  My second favorite was a buttermilk brined roasted whole turkey.  But let's go with this one first:

Spicy stuffed turkey breast
( a Giada de Laurentiis recipe)

Ingredients:

2-2lb boneless, skin on turkey breasts halves, butterflied - that's a 4+ pound breast.  Have your butcher take the bones out and butterfly it for you.  You want to net 4 pounds of meat.
1 cup crumbled corn bread, store bought
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, no casings
2 tsp Calabrian chili paste ***
1/2 cup pecorino cheese, grated
2 tsp toasted fennel seeds, ground
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, ground
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
6 (1 inch )slices of ciabatta bread
6 Tbs. olive oil (divided)


Method:
There's a video on Food Network

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a medium bowl mix together the corn bread and ilk.  Allow the mixture to soak for 10 minutes.
To the bread mixture add the sausage, chili paste and pecorino cheese.
Use your hands to mix well.
Lay the turkey breasts on a cutting board so that they are open like a book, skin side down.
Pat the stuffing mixture into the middle of each breast so it covers one half of each open breast.
Fold the other half of the meat over the filling so the skin side is up.
Tie the turkey breasts with 4 pieces of cooking or butcher's twine for each breast
Mix the ground fennel, salt, oregano, onion powder and paprika and rub all over the tied turkey.

Lay 6 slices of bread on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 2 Tbs of olive oil.
Place turkey breasts skin side up on the bread and drizzle the remaining 4 Tbs olive oil over the top.
Roast at 425 deg for 30 minutes
Reduce heat to 375 deg and roast another 40 minutes or until the skin is brown and crisp and an           instant read thermometer reads 160 deg
Allow the turkey to rest for 10 minutes before slicing

spicy stuffed turkey breast, sliced

Prep time 15 minutes

cook time 70 minutes

Serves 8-10 generously

This year I'm going to prep both halves, roast one and pop the other one in the freezer (freeze the bread separately)

***The Calabrian chili paste is essential.  Here are a couple of places to find it:

Williams-Sonoma, online 

Amazon

Italian specialty market or section in a good market