Citrus Is More Than Dessert & Juice

Before we begin, a bit of administrative news.  The Deep Winter Crop Share signups are open.  For the form, click here.  Online signups should also be available within a week.  I'll keep you posted.  The Deep Winter round is always the most diverse, as we open it up to all domestic producers.  Look for lots of yummy things, in spite of it being cold here.

I'm so glad to see beautiful fresh grapefruit in the boxes lately.  There's no better morning pick-me-up than squeezing grapefruit juice pretty much straight into your mouth.  It got me to thinking, though, that there are so many more uses for the lovely citrus we're getting.  Besides, of course, peeling it and eating it.  (Getting to the tangelos before my 5-year-old does, though, I'll admit is a daunting challenge.)  So here are some categories of uses for citrus:

Salads & Veggies

Photo via The Daily Meal

Of course, citrus vinaigrette is a long-time standby.  Slices of citrus of all kinds can really dress up your salad, too.  It won't be long before asparagus starts to reappear, and it's fantastic with an orange sauce.  In addition to asparagus, citrus works very well with fennel.  You'll also find lots of citrus flavors in Spanish tapas, including these olives that make for a fantastic holiday appetizer.

Seafood

Photo via Food & Wine

Citrus is such a perfect fit with seafood.  Even some of the most simple preparations involve squeezing lemon over fish.  You absolutely can do things a bit more fancy, of course.  I love scallops, and they pair amazingly well with citrus salad.  Mixed seafood salad benefits from the acidity in citrus, too.  My go-to salmon recipe is pan seared in a citrus sauce, too.  I'm a huge fan of Alton Brown's "Good Eats," (best cooking show out there), and that's where I learned to make fish en papillote.  Which is the most amazing way to cook fish.  If you'd like to push your skills, try a beurre blanc with grapefruit and halibut.

Poultry

Poultry benefits from the acid in citrus, as well.  Last year at Thanksgiving, I made a turkey in citrus marinade.  And it's fantastic.  Latin American recipes use lime and orange frequently, and Cuban garilc-lime sauce is a classic example.  It goes great with chicken.  Moving over to Spain, orange zest brightens this chicken & chorizo dish.  Middle Eastern recipes also pair poultry and citrus, as in this one.

Photo via Food & Wine

My Crop Share Challenge: Swiss Chard Wrapped Salmon with Grapefruit

This past weekend I decided that I'm going to give myself some Iron Chef style challenges each week by pairing two seemingly random items from that week's share into one dish.  And not like oh such and such with a side of this and a side of that, the items must reside together in the dish.  For fun, whether I wind up with a kitchen win or a kitchen fail, I'll post the recipe and results on the blog each week.  So to kick off my first challenge, I grabbed the Swiss chard and the grapefruit and got to dreaming...again, literally, I'm dreaming in food lately, ha!  And what came to me was to wrap some salmon in the Swiss chard, because hey if folks use banana leaves to wrap fish in, chard has to work, and citrus is always a good idea when it comes to fish, so could we have a winner, winner Crop Share dinner?

Swiss Chard Wrapped Salmon with Grapefruit

Ingredients:
2 fillets of wild-caught Sockeye salmon (Sockeye is a great sustainable choice, so snag it when you can, and for more info on sustainable and over-fished seafood, see this great database from the Monterey Bay Aquarium)
2 slices of grapefruit, halved
1 Tbsp butter (for dairy free we use Earth Balance margarine)
1 tsp chopped dill
4 Swiss chard leaves
Olive oil to drizzle

In advance, whip up your dill butter as you'll want it to set up for about an hour in the fridge.  For that just blend together your Tbsp of butter and your tsp of dill and allow it to chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan, bring some water to a boil and toss in your 4 chard leaves for 2-3 minutes, just long enough to turn them from bright to dark green.  Remove from boiling water and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Lay flat onto a kitchen towel or paper towels and lightly pat to remove any excess water.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or in a lightly oiled baking dish, place to chard leaves, slightly overlapping each other and then an inch or two away, repeat with the other two leaves.  Place salmon fillets, skin side down, onto the left edge of the leaves.  Divide the dill butter evenly and spread it on the tops of the salmon, like you're making delicious salmon toast.  And then place two halves of grapefruit on top of each salmon fillet, and spread them out enough so that you're maximizing your grapefruit-touching surface area -- you don't want all the flavor concentrated right in the middle of the fish, you want to spread the love.  Then pick up a fillet on the left side, with the chard leaves under it and gently roll it over so that you're wrapping the rest of the leaves around it.  Place back so that the skin side remains down and repeat with the second fillet.  Your leaves may not wrap the whole way around, and that's okay.

Drizzle the tops with a touch of olive oil and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.

Results...

Omnomnomnomnom!!!!  Because of the general texture of the grapefruit, you really want to think of this as solely a garnish as cutting through it to get a complete bite with the fish and the chard is a bit much and the grapefruit does not want to play along.  So just set your grapefruit slices aside, because they've done their job of imbuing this dish with it's bright citrus flavors.  The chard holds all of the moisture into the fish, and then gives this dish a great earthy flavor.  We served our fillets with herb roasted fingerling potatoes.

So if you're just not a fan of Swiss chard, then using it as a moisture-trapping fish wrap is the way to go, because you could even look at it just like the grapefruit, as mere garnish, and set it aside, because it will still have done it's job of allowing the fish to steam and braise in all it's own wonderful juices and that added dill bitter, while it all gets roasted away.  There's a trifecta of cooking techniques happening all at once to that fish, and it's all thanks to a couple leaves of Swiss chard.

Rise & Shine Citrus Smoothie

And the smoothie train continues to chug along, and by chug, I mean guzzle at rates that would make a frat boy proud.  We're getting tangelos this week, and not only is it one of the funnest words to say, they are a pretty cool hybrid of tangerines and grapefruit (some are also tangerines combined with pomelos, hence the "elos" in tangelo).  Unlike grapefruit they're easy to peel, and they are power packed with juice.  So...GET IN MY SMOOTHIE!  This Rise & Shine Smoothie really is breakfast in a glass as  you get your fresh-squeezed citrus boost, a protein & calcium jolt from almond milk, and disregard what those silly internet ads say, the bananas in this will keep you feeling full without filling you out, and they are great for helping to balance out blood sugar levels.

Rise & Shine Citrus Smoothie

Ingredients:
16 ice cubes
2 bananas, peeled
Juice of 2 tangelos
Juice of 1 red grapefruit
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze)


Into the blender all of your ingredients go, blend until the ice is fully crushed and prepare for morning magic.  It reminded me a bit of an Orange Julius, and then it also reminded me somewhat of a pina colada, so use some reduced fat coconut milk in place of the almond milk and really transport yourself to the tropics!

Salmon with Grapefruit-Dill Yogurt Sauce via Tash's Noshes

A couple of our Crop Share members have started their own food blogs (and then there's some out there who really should -- I'm looking at you Bethany Duffy, Louise Burnett and Kat Cole), including the newly married, Natasha Gannon!  In the Spring, Tash and I had dueling low-cal, spring onion cream sauces for salmon, and here was her healthy take with some grapefruit thrown in for a pop of citrus.  Since it's not Spring, there are no spring onions, but you could easily substitute leeks, chives, green onions or even shallots.  So for anyone who doesn't care for grapefruit as it is, this is a great way to use it up and sneak it into a meal.  Clink the link below to view the recipe at Tash's Noshes and poke around her site for other great, healthy ideas.  Now that she's out of the wedding planning mire, we can expect to see more deliciousness coming out of her kitchen!

Salmon with Grapefruit-Dill Yogurt Sauce via Tash's Noshes

But wait, there's more!

Apparently, I'm in a food bloggy mood this week, but I just continue to find more and more inspiration from this Spring's Crop Share. So while an entire, sliced eggplant continues to marinate in my fridge for later slapping onto a griddle pan, here's two delightful recipes that ended up in my e-mail inbox today for further inspiration to use those poblano peppers and then to bring you back to thoughts of that beautiful, local asparagus from two weeks ago (p.s. it's still in store!)...

Open-Face Four Cheese Quesadillas

Click through to view recipe on Food & Wine...

Asparagus with Grapefruit "Snow"

Click through to view recipe on Tasting Table...

Strawberry-Grapefruit Smoothie

I know it feels like it's too cold to have smoothies, but they're still very good for you! It will make for an energizing breakfast and you will feel so refreshed after.

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 cups hulled fresh or frozen strawberries
1 sweet apple (such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady), cored and chopped
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

Click through to view the rest of the recipe at: http://www.wholeliving.com/176594/strawberry-grapefruit-smoothie)

Grapefruit Blood Orange Cocktail

I think I may have found my drink. Not only is it so pretty, it combines my two favorite citrus fruits. I am obsessed with all things blood orange. I have candy, lotions, candles, you name it. The ladies from We Are Not Martha really hit the nail on the head with this one!                                                                                                                                                                                            

You probably have just about everything you need for this cocktail. Check out the recipe here: http://www.wearenotmartha.com/2012/03/grapefruit-blood-orange-cocktail/

Pink Grapefruit Salad Dressing

It's great to be back into the Crop Share swing of things. Now you can be well on your way to keeping your new year's resolution of eating healthier. This is a great salad dressing to keep in your fridge. 

Ingredients:
1/3 cup ruby red grapefruit juice
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon local honey

Click through to view the rest of the recipe here: http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2011/01/pink-grapefruit-salad-dressing-pink.html

Cinnamon and Honey Spiced Grapefruit

Usually I slice a grapefruit in half, sprinkle some sugar or agave on it and scoop away. I've never even considered putting cinnamon on it! Try this out for a healthy and fragrant breakfast or snack.

Cinnamon and Honey Spiced Grapefruit

Ingredients:

1/2 grapefruit
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of cardamom
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Click through to view the rest of the recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2012/08/cinnamon-and-honey-spiced-grapefruit.html