A is for Arugula (Corn & Orzo Salad with Arugula Pesto)

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I am on the wellness committee at my work.  It was started as a program called Be Well through our insurance broker (you know…healthy employees are more productive, cost employers less money, cost insurance companies less money and eventually, hopefully bring down the cost of premiums employees pay).  So the committee’s mission is to organize fun, educational activities/events/competitions to encourage our coworkers to get more healthy.  We did a segment called “Five for Five” where we were to eat five servings of fruit and vegetables every day and teams kept track of their healthy eating habits and winners competed in a “fruit off” contest (don’t ask) at the end.  We had another competition where we added up all the steps we took in a day.  We did a segment on stress reduction which has led to having yoga instructors come in and offer free yoga classes on a weekly basis!

The most recent wasn’t a competition, just an educational activity, called “Healthy Eating A-Z”.  Committee members divided the alphabet and were responsible for finding a healthy whole food that starts with that letter, researching it, finding a recipe and sending an email to all employees.  It was so popular, that everyone was asking us to compile a cookbook.  We did and then we had a healthy lunch potluck.  And that was so fun that we’ve been asked to plan another one.

I volunteered to take letter “A” and chose Arugula as my ingredient.  I had actually made this really delicious Corn and Orzo Salad with Arugula Pesto not too long before.  Perfect.  It’s delicious.

This is the “Arugula” email I sent…

Welcome to “Whole Foods A to Z”!  Food of the Day…

A is for Arugula

Did you know?

Arugula (Eruca sativa), an edible annual plant, is also known as rocket, roquette or rucola.  It is used as a leaf vegetable, and looks like a longer leaved and open lettuce. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium.  It has been grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and is considered an aphrodisiac. Before the 1990s it was usually collected in the wild and was not cultivated on a large scale or researched scientifically. In addition to the leaves, the flowers (often used in salads as an edible garnish), young seed pods and mature seeds are all edible.

It has a rich, peppery taste, and has an exceptionally strong flavor for a leafy green. It is generally used in salads, often mixed with other greens, but is also cooked as a vegetable or used raw with pasta or meats. In Italy, arugula is often used in pizzas, added just before the baking period ends or immediately afterwards, so that it will not wilt in the heat.

Oh, and my other letters were “H” – Honey (in Everyday Granola); “O” – Olive Oil (and Dukkah, a middle eastern dish made with nuts and seeds); “U” and “V” – (not sure why those were assigned together!) – Ugli fruit (go ahead, Google it) and Vinegar.  And if you’d like the entire “A-Z Cookbook”, email me (find my email on my Contact page) and I’ll happily email it to you. 

Corn and Orzo Salad with Arugula Pesto

(Adapted from “relish” magazine. I usually double the amounts for the pesto and then use it for many other recipes…roasted potatoes with arugula pesto, spread on a pizza crust with cheese, proscuitto and then topped with some fresh arugula after baking!)

INGREDIENTS

Arugula Pesto:

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1-1/2 cups packed arugula

½ cup packed flat leaf parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

Salad:

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)

2 cups fresh corn kernels (**note:  to make it easier, I used Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn kernels)

1 cup cucumber, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

¾ cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS

To prepare pesto, place walnuts in processor and finely chop.  Add arugula and parsley; pulse to coarsely chop.  With motor running, add garlic, oil, lemon juice, cheese, salt and pepper and process until blended.

To prepare salad, cook orzo according to package directions.  **if using frozen corn, pour the still frozen kernels into colander.  Then, when the orzo is finished cooking,  pour the pot of orzo directly over the corn to drain.  This will defrost the corn.** Drain the orzo and corn, rinse under cold running water and drain well.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Add corn, pesto, cucumber and tomatoes and mix gently.  Stir feta in just before serving.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

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One of the things I love about fall is the plethora of pumpkin baked goods.  I make Pumpkin/Cream Cheese Bars.  I make a Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese & Toffee Filling for Thanksgiving.  I’ve made Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Creme Brulee. I had a Pumpkin Bread Pudding in a restaurant recently that was out of this world.  So when my friend Leah Singer posted (or rather “re-pinned”) a recipe for Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, I couldn’t wait to make them!  I mean, who doesn’t love Snickerdoodles?  I printed the recipe and it was sitting on my kitchen counter.  Then I got really busy at work.  Then I got the mother of all colds.  Then the culmination of the really busy at work took place with a luncheon event for 200 that I had been planning for six months.  Oh, and did I mention I had the mother of all colds?  Bad timing.  The event was a success, regardless of how bad I was feeling…it’s amazing what sheer adrenaline can do.

I might interject at this point that I had been feeling so lousy that I really wasn’t doing much cooking.  And for me, the worst part about being sick is not feeling like cooking!  Cooking and baking are my stress relief, my therapy.  So I took a couple of days off and finally last weekend got back in the kitchen and baked the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.  They are amazingly delicious (and, wow, did the house smell heavenly while they were baking!).  I love the addition of allspice in the sugar/cinnamon mixture for rolling the cookies in.  I’ve got to be honest though, they were a little “cake-y” for me.  I like a harder, more crumbly cookie, but the flavor made up for it.  I took them to work and shared them with my coworkers and everyone loved them.  And enough of them asked for the recipe, that I’m going to share.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

INGREDIENTS

For the cookies:

3¾ cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

¾ cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

Dash of allspice

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the pumpkin puree. Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly. Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.  And share with your coworkers.  They’ll love you for it.

Cambria, Paso Robles, Wine, Olive Oil and Chocolate Chip Cookies with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

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Last weekend we went with a group of friends to Cambria (California’s central coast, north of San Luis Obispo, south of Big Sur).  It was really beautiful and a lot of fun.  One of the highlights was the day we spent in Paso Robles (the wine country just east of Cambria).  We hired a van and driver through the Wine Wrangler (or, as it was called by the end of the day, “The Wine Wangler”.  Lol.)  We stopped at Farmstand 46 for absolutely incredible gourmet sandwiches (I had the “Monte Carlo”…tuna, bouquerones, pickled egg, red onion and salt & vinegar potato chips on a French roll!  OMG…best tuna sandwich EVER) and ate in the art gallery at Castoro Cellars (incredibly beautiful vineyards and a superb Chardonnay).

One of the highlights of the day was visiting Kiler Ridge Olive Farm for olive oil tasting. Kiler Ridge is located on a hilltop, with 360-degree spectacular views of the valley and nearby vineyards.  Owner Gregg Bone is a retired chemist and boy, oh boy, did we learn a lot about olive oil!  He told us that olive oil has three main flavor characteristics:  bitterness, pungency and fruitiness.  And that time and exposure to light are enemies of olive oil and its beneficial triglycerides, so buy smaller bottles of olive oil and store them in a dark, cool place.

But let’s back up a month or so to when we were planning the Wine Wrangler outing.  I had researched a few vineyards and emailed everyone about olive oil tasting.  Everybody was game.  One of the full gastro-touristing experiences offered at Kiler Ridge is tasting vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt.  A few friends in our group weren’t so keen on that.  They thought it sounded weird.  I agreed that it sounded weird, but would venture to say that its really delicious.

Which, of course, got me thinking that there must be some incredible baked good using olive oil and sea salt, that I could bake and bring up to share with everyone.  So I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies with Olive Oil & Sea Salt.  What the heck.  I decided to give them a try.  To be honest, after making the “dough”, I was really nervous.  It was so gloppy (is that a word?) and oily-looking.  I figured they’d spread all over the pan when put in the oven.  They didn’t!  They firmed right up into lovely golden cookies.  So I froze them and brought them with me.  After eating our lunch at Castoro, I brought out the cookies.  Everybody loved them.  The olive oil just gives them a sort of earthy deliciousness.  And the sea salt just adds that extra little “zing”.

Okay, so now back to Gregg at Kiler Ridge.  About five minutes into his talk, as he’s explaining the differences between real extra virgin olive oil compared to the stuff that’s commercially pressed and bottled by the big name brands, I was feeling a little bad about my chocolate chip cookies.  Okay, only a little bad.  We all still thought they were delicious (in fact, we managed to eat every last one), though we did nickname them “the tainted chocolate chip cookies”.  I’m just glad I didn’t offer one to Gregg!

And I am definitely down with trying the vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Olive Oil & Sea Salt

INGREDIENTS

1 cup extra virgin olive oil (Besides the obvious, Kiler Ridge, Gregg also recommends California Olive Ranch and Costco’s Toscana brands.)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

coarse sea salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, soda, and salt.

In a larger bowl, “cream” olive oil and sugars. It will get soupy, but it won’t really get fluffy like it does with butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition and then add the vanilla. Now you can put the mixer on high for a minute, just to fluff the eggs out, but don’t do it for too long because olive oil can turn bitter if over worked.

Add flour gradually

Stir in chocolate chips and nuts

Scoop out blobs of cookie dough (about two tablespoons) onto ungreased cookie sheets. No need to flatten these will melt into gorgeous little blobby puddles.

Sprinkle a smidgen of coarse sea salt on top of each cookie.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until just lightly browned.

Let cool on pans for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool (or, whatever, start eating them warm!)  And they freeze beautifully!

The Fish Market’s Cheezy Garlic Bread

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Tony & I started going to the Fish Market restaurant in Del Mar way back in our college days at SDSU.  We’d go to the race track with a group of friends and then head over to “the market” (as we used to call it back then) for a few beers and a lot of oysters and their Cheezy Garlic Bread.  Truth be told, I’m not so much a fan of oysters any more, but the Cheezy Garlic Bread is still to die for.  We’ve passed on our affection for “the market” to our son Kyle who is a seafood addict.  He insists on going just about every time he’s home.  Now we usually go to the one downtown, a beautiful setting, right on San Diego’s bayfront.  They order seafood.  I order the Cheezy Garlic Bread.

Definitely not a low fat item, but oh-so-delicious…sourdough bread topped with a layer of oozy, melty Romano cheese gooeyness.  I clipped the recipe from the Union-Tribune many, many years ago and have made it numerous times since.  I’ve actually “lightened” it up just a tad by reducing the amount of mayo and Romano cheese…still not low-fat by any stretch, but worth every single calorie!

The Fish Market’s Cheezy Garlic Bread

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf sourdough bread (I’ve used the long loaves and the round ones)

Garlic butter

1 stick butter, softened

1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Romano sauce

3/4 cup mayonnaise (the original recipe called for a full cup! And, sorry, don’t use low-fat, it will not brown)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

2 cups Romano cheese, grated medium (the original recipe called for 3 cups!)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare garlic butter by combining softened butter, parsley and garlic.  Reserve.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the Romano sauce by hand.  Blend the mix to a smooth, paste-like consistency, but do not break up the cheese.

Cut the loaf of bread in half lengthwise (horizontally).

Spread the garlic butter over the loaves on the non-crust side, then spread with the cheese mix.

Bake on a baking sheet until golden brown.   Let cool for a bit until slicing and then ENJOY every single melty, oozy, cheezy bite!

 

 

Grilled Avocado

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Grilled avocados have been getting a lot of press lately.  The August issue of on Appétit featured an article called “Hecho en Mexico”, about a group of “chefs, mixologists and pro surfers”…getting together for a “week of waves and open-fire cooking”.  Sounds good, right?  There’s a picture of a plate of grilled avocados with the description, “Know what happens when you grill an avocado?  You basically get smoky butter – not to mention the best guacamole ever.”  Tempting.  Then, a couple of days later, I’m paying a visit to my favorite foodtruck, MIHO, and on the menu, they have a salad with grilled avo.  I ask the guy on the truck what’s the deal and he says, “you have to try it…it just brings out the flavor of the avo, adds smokiness, smooth like butter and it turns them the coolest bright green”.  Okay.  Okay.  So that night I tell Tony we’re grilling avocados to use for guacamole.  He thinks I’m nuts (but of course he listens to me anyway!)   

First of all, they are so pretty, all bright green, with grill marks and they smell all smoky and buttery.  I mixed them up with a little lime juice, some seasoning salt and red onions and yes…The. Best. Guacamole. Ever.  EVER.

We’ve added them to the Chipotle Chicken Tostadas…amazing! You can fill the hole left by the pits with salsa and serve as an appetizer…scoop out the flesh with tortilla chips or pita chips.  I saw them on the menu at Kensington Grill, served as an appetizer with ancho chili vinaigrette & lime wedges, to spread on grilled bread.  I’m thinking next we’ll add them to a BLT, with applewood smoked bacon, heirloom tomatoes and arugula, on a thick slice of toasted egg bread.  (Okay, my neighbor Barbara just brought me a whole sack full of avos…guess what we’re having tomorrow night?)

 Grilled Avocado

INGREDIENTS

Avocado (ripe, but firm, not too squishy)

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat.

Remove the pit of each avocado by cutting into the pit with a large sharp knife and turning the knife counter-clockwise. Once the knife is properly wedged into the avocado pit, it should be easy to remove the pit from the flesh of the avocado, as you twist and remove the knife.

Whisk together the lime juice and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush each avocado half with a little of  the lime juice marinade.

Place each prepared avocado half, flesh side down, over the hot grill. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until grill marks appear and the avocado is warm, but not overly mushy.

Remove the avocado halves from the grill and let cool a bit.   From here, your choices are limitless.  Use your imagination.

Oh, and btw, just now see that brother-in-law STCG has a recipe for Chili-Rubbed Chicken with Grilled Avocados in his cookbook Just Grill This.  He says, “I’ll admit that grilled avocados sound kinda creepy, but they’re actually really good.”  There you go.  And I’ll be making that recipe too.

Pickled Red Onions

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You know how on the very last page of Bon Appétit magazine, they have a celebrity interview (well, okay, maybe you don’t know, but they do) and they often ask “what three things are always in your refrigerator?”  Singer John Legend said, “eggs, hot sauce and butter”.  Wow…that’s not very exciting. And I had to pull several issues to find that interview! (I guess they don’t ask as often as I thought.)  Steve Carell said, “Soy milk, because my daughter has a severe milk allergy; Diet Coke; and strawberries.)  Okay, whatever.

When Bon Appétit comes to my house to ask me, my answer will be, “plain Greek yogurt (to have with Everyday Granola!), half & half and picked red onions”.

Pickled red onions have become my favorite condiment.  They are super easy to make.  They keep in the fridge forever and they are delicious on so many things.  We put them on burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, canitas & carne asada tacos, and they are a “must” on the Chipotle Chicken Tostadas.  I’ve thrown them in salads and I even added them to a gilled tuna & Gruyere sandwich the other night. Yum! Make a batch.  Keep them in the fridge and then when BA comes to your house, you’ll know what to say.

Pickled Red Onions

 INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (I’ve also used red wine vinegar)

1/2 cup cold water

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 red onion, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

Whisk first 4 ingredients in a small bowl until sugar and salt dissolve.  Place onion in a jar; pour vinegar mixture over.  Let sit at room temperature for one hour.  You can make them several weeks ahead too.  Just cover and chill in the jar.  Drain onions before using.

Chipotle Chicken Tostadas

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The food truck scene in San Diego has taken off in the last few years. No, these are NOT the “roach coaches” of yesteryear. Food trucks offer handmade cuisine using local produce and unique flavors that are easily accessible, affordable and most importantly, delicious. And two of the very best food trucks park themselves two office buildings away from where I work two days a week. Green Truck and MIHO consistently rate in the “best of the best”. How stoked am I?

About a year ago, my friend Jessica met me for lunch at MIHO. We both ordered the Chipotle Chicken Tostada and it was awesomely delicious. I mean, we talked about it for weeks. So shortly after that, Jessica announces that she is pregnant (yay!) and a few months later, I’m hosting a baby shower for her. I’m thinking I’d sure love to surprise her and make those MIHO tostadas for the shower. So I walked over to the truck, introduced myself to Chef Sarah, explained what I wanted to do and she said, “sure, email me to remind me…just give me a few days”. And you know what? She actually emailed me back…with the recipe and the comment, “here is the recipe for the chicken tostada (it is kind of a rough on since I didn’t really work off a recipe when I made it)”.

I made them for the shower. Jessica was SO excited and SO appreciative and EVERYone loved them. Now, you’re thinking, “that’s not very cool of Cheryl to share MIHO’s recipe.” Well, a few months after the shower, I saw that they had actually publicized the recipe, for all to see, on their e-newsletter. So I think its cool. Besides, I’ve adapted it some. Just be prepared…you’ll want to start these the day before. The chicken takes 4 hours to cook…but so totally worth it!

MIHO Chipotle Chicken Tostada

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2 lbs chicken thighs makes enough chicken for about 6-8 tostadas…I’ve actually cooked up to 3 lbs of chicken with the amount of ingredients below)

1 chopped yellow onion

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 tablespoons paprika

1/4 cup cumin

1 tablespoon cayenne

salt

black pepper

2 28-oz canned crushed tomatoes

1/2 can chipotles in adobo sauce

Tostada shells

Refried black beans

Cotija cheese

Red cabbage

Avocado (if you’re feeling especially creative, try grilling your avo!)

Pickled red onion

Radish

Salsa

Sour cream or salsa crema

Cilantro

Lime wedges

DIRECTIONS

Make dry rub by combining paprika, cumin, cayenne and salt & pepper. Coat chicken thighs with rub.

Heat a few tablespoons vegetable oil in a large frying pan and sear thighs (just a few minutes on each side, to really get the rub adhered to the meat, you’ll probably need to do this in a couple of batches). Okay, to be honest, I’ve skipped the whole searing step and just smothered the chicken with the rub, let it sit in the fridge for a half hour or so, then added the chicken, raw chopped onion, garlic & chipotles to the roasing pan.

Place thighs in large Dutch oven or roasting pan.

Sauté onions and garlic in the same pan you used to sear the thighs. Add sautéed onions and garlic to chicken.

Pour tomatoes and chipotles over the chicken, onions and garlic (the liquid from this should almost cover the chicken).

Cover tightly with lid or foil and place in oven at 250° for about 4 hours. You want the cover to be tight so that the liquid doesn’t evaporate.

While still warm, remove chicken from sauce and shred it.

Don’t throw away the sauce! I always freeze it and then use it again for another batch of chicken! Leftover chicken freezes really well too.

To serve:

Top tostada shell with refried beans, crumbled Cotija cheese, shredded red cabbage, avocado slices, pickled red onion, thinly sliced radish, a dollop of salsa and a dollop of sour cream, a few springs of cilantro and then squeeze some fresh lime juice over.

You’re gonna thank me for this one. (Okay, really, you should thank Sarah and Kevin and Juan…and Jessica for having a baby!)

Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Olives

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I saw this recipe posted a few weeks ago on my favorite blog Smitten Kitchen.  I’ve already posted my brother-in-law’s Baked Feta recipe and have made that a ton…so easy and so yummy. This has all the goodness of his, with the melty feta, oregano and olive oil, but just “kicked up a notch”, with the addition of tomatoes, olives and red onion.  (And, btw, do not tell Sam I used that expression in a reference to his food!)

Anyway, I love Sam’s version so much, I knew I wanted to try this.  So made it for an appetizer last night and it was a hit.  It was devoured.  I laughed when I re-read SK’s last sentence below, “as it cools, the feta will firm up again. We found that the dish could be returned to the oven to soften it again. We did this with leftovers, too” because it was gobbled up so quickly it never had a chance to cool and there was not a smidgen left over!

Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Olives

INGREDIENTS
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup chopped, pitted Kalmata olives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 8- to 10-ounce block feta
Crackers, flatbread*, pita chips, or crostini, for dipping

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, olives, onion, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, oregano, olive oil and a few grinds of pepper.

Heat oven to 400°F. Check to see that your dish is oven-proof.

Place the block of feta in the middle of your dish. Pile the tomato mixture on top of the feta.

Bake for 15 minutes.

The feta will not melt, just warm and soften. Garnish with parsley and serve with crackers; eat immediately. As it cools, the feta will firm up again. We found that the dish could be returned to the oven to soften it again. We did this with leftovers, too.

Sukkah-rita (aka Pomegranate Margarita)

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We had a Mexican-themed dinner with friends for Sukkot the other night (we renamed the holiday Mexukkot…lol) and I needed a signature cocktail to serve.  I wanted to do something a little different than just your regular margarita.  Years ago I printed out a recipe for a drink called a “Pomerita” (a margarita made with pomegranate juice), that we’ve made many, many times.  Perfect.  Pomegranates are one of the Seven Species of Israel (remember the Seven Species Salad???).  My mixologist husband Tony adapted the recipe a bit and came up with what we are now calling a Sukkah-rita!  Que bueno.  L’chaim!

Sukkah-rita

 INGREDIENTS

(for each drink)

1-1/2 ounces very good quality tequila

1/2 ounce Cointreau

3-1/2 ounces pomegranate juice

juice of one lime

1/2 ounce agave syrup

For garnish – sugar, lime, pomegranate seeds

DIRECTIONS

Pour a couple of tablespoons sugar onto a small plate.  If you want to be really fancy, zest the peel from one lime and mix with the sugar.

Rub the cut half of a lime around the rim of your glass and dip that into the sugar mixture.  Fill your glass with ice.

Add all other ingredients to a cocktail shaker.  Add enough ice to fill the shaker about three-quarters full and give it a good shake.  Once you’ve given it a good Tom Cruise (or, in this case, Tony Bruser) style hippy, hippy shake, strain it into your ice-filled glass.

Garnish with a lime peel twist and a few pomegranate seeds.

Seven Species (and more) Salad

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My favorite Jewish holiday begins tonight at sundown.  Sukkot commemorates the time when the Jewish people wandered in the desert and lived in temporary shelters. It’s a harvest festival, and during this weeklong celebration we spend time outdoors in a sukkah, a makeshift structure covered with branches to look just like the huts our ancestors used. It’s also a chance to move beyond the material comforts of home, —and connect with family and nature.

We’ve been building a sukkah in our backyard since the kids were in preschool.  They used to love helping Tony build it and helping me decorate it (they’d make yards and yards of paper chains & draw pictures, I’d hang twinkle lights and dried gourds and other fall-inspired decor –  easy to find with all the Thanksgiving stuff in party stores).  Well, its been a very long time since the kids were in preschool, but we still build a beautiful sukkah (sans paper chains).

It’s traditional at Sukkot to invite friends and family for dinners in the sukkah. Since the weather is typically still very nice in San Diego at this time of year, it is so pleasant to sit and linger over a delicious meal outside.  At one time, we had several Jewish families on our street (including a Rabbi and a Cantor!) and we organized “sukkah crawls”, where we would walk from one house to the next for different dinner courses.  We still have a smaller version of  the “sukkah crawl” with our good friends Tom and Barbara and we invite different guest over during the week.

With the emphasis on the harvest festival, its also traditional to include dishes that include one or more of the “seven species” of Israel (fruits and grains that are native to the land of Israel)…dates, figs, olives, pomegranates, grapes, barley and wheat.  My mission this year was to find a recipe and create a dish that included all seven!  I found a few different versions of a “Seven Species Salad” and ended up pulling a bit from each and modified a rice salad that I make (using Trader Joe’s Rice Medley) to create this one and I really like it.  And remember that leftover vinaigrette from the Urban Solace salad?  It is perfect for this.

Can’t wait for the sun to set so we can eat it in our sukkah!

Seven Species (and more) Salad

INGREDIENTS

1 package from Trader Joe’s Rice Medley (found in their freezer section; the blend is black rice, red rice and barley)

1 cup wheat berries (I found them in the bulk bins in our local natural foods store)

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

2 tablespoons golden raisins (hey, they used to be grapes)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh (if you can find them) or dried dates

1 fig, quartered

1/3 – 1/2 cup vinaigrette from Urban Solace Salad (it’s made with olive oil and pomegranate molasses)

DIRECTIONS

Cook one package Rice Medley according to package directions.  Pour into medium sized bowl and let cool a bit.

If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, you can cook your favorite type of rice; wild rice would be delicious and you should be able to find barley in the bulk bins of a natural foods store.

Cook the wheat berries in a pot of boiling water (unsalted), uncovered, until just tender (I wanted them to still have a little “bite” to them), about 20 minutes.  Let the wheat berries cool a bit and then add to the bowl with the rice blend.

Add the parsley, pomegranate seeds, raisins and dates to the rice & wheat berries and then toss with about 1/3 – 1/2 cup of the vinaigrette.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with the fig quarters.  This salad is best made at least an hour, or up to several, ahead of time, for the flavors to blend.  Cool and then remove from fridge, to get to room temperature, before serving.