Food Blog: Citrus Sunshine

Monday, January 25, 2021

Citrus Sunshine

SURPRISE ME! • RECIPES • BOOKS • VIDEO • MORE

Monday, January 25, 2021

Good morning!

An argument for cooking less
My search for lost time in a slice of Jewish rye (NYT)
The first issue of For The Culture, an exciting new food magazine, is out. I can't wait for my copy to arrive.

At least four times a year, I say "This is my favorite newsletter of the year" which either means 1. I'm lying and/or do not understand how superlatives work. 2. I'm bad at commitment or just extremely forgetful. 3. It's true, or it is at least my truth the day the theme is the most timely. With citrus, it's always a week like this: the kind of cold outside that when I pass a billboard with a scantily-clad model on it, I shiver reflexively and feel bad nobody is offering them a coat, a real and actual thing that happened on Saturday before I (theoretically) came back to my senses. Citrus season is the very opposite of this: sunshine, brightness, warmer places, longer days and it's exactly what January needs a boost of. I hope you find several new favorite ways to cook with it this week.

Cheers,
Deb

Fresh and New

parmesan oven risotto

New: A few moderately controversial opinions about risotto led me to this almost stir-free, broth-free, perfectly flavored risotto. The oven does most of the work while you walk away, and delight in your newfound free time. Plus, there's absolutely nothing cozier this time of year.

Citrus Sunshine

mixed citrus salad with feta and mint

Just when I'm convinced it's going to be all bleak and wintry from here on out, better citrus arrives and everything is a little more luminous again. Here's a favorite salad -- I love it with or for breakfast, and it's pretty stunning with dinner too.

simplest spaghetti al limone

The simplest way to make spaghetti al limone is also my favorite, enlisting an uncooked sauce, but no cream, butter, or other clutter. It's the kind of sunny, triumphant meal I want more of in my winter repertoire.

endives with oranges and almonds

Fragrant citrus, tangy cheese, deeply toasted almonds, droplets of intense sherry vinegar and fruity olive oil, and a sea salt crunch, all mingle inside an endive boat — I think it's the perfect refreshing handheld appetizer for any upcoming dinner.

roasted cauliflower with pumpkin seeds, brown butter and lime

Simple roasted cauliflower with four ingredients that I hadn't combined in exactly this way before that became a new instant favorite. Add some sliced avocado, beans, and hot sauce for an unforgettable taco filling.

crispy broccoli with lemon and garlic

Do vegetables occasionally seem like a distant memory? Crispy charred broccoli to the rescue! Try one of the suggested riffs (crispy egg and crunchy crumbs! burrata sandwich smash! fish sauce vinaigrette!) and you too can unleash your inner broccoli junkie.

chicken, leek, and rice soup

An easy, rustic chicken soup for cozy times -- or times of, ahem, forced coziness. This recipe has built-in flexibility so you can use what you have on hand, but a few of my favorite things (leeks, lemon, herbs, some heat, and even the most barebones of stocks) make it truly excel. I hope it hits the spot.

homesick texan carnitas

Carnitas -- those tender bits of pork with caramelized edges and flavor for miles that are the king of taco fillings -- are ridiculously easy to make. Almost as if it knows there's a polar vortex out there and you don't want to go to the store, the ingredient list is spectacularly short, hooray.

garlic lime steak and noodle salad

A salty-tangy-sweet-spicy steak salad with an emphasis on fresh colorful ingredients has become a staple around here. We serve it assemble-your-own style, so everyone can fix their plates with as much or as little of each element as they wish. I think our weeks will be better with this in it.

Citrus Treats

key lime pie

Key lime pie is like an in-kitchen vacation, nothing short of luminous rays of tropical sunshine beaming forth from a graham crust, not to oversell it or anything. It's also astoundingly easy to make. I always forget I'm craving it until it perfectly hits the spot.

blood orange, almond and ricotta cake

A cake so rich and tender, you might forget that it's gluten-free, and so sunny and bright, you might forget that the air outside is so cold it hurts your face. Or, at least forgive it for the duration of your next cake break.

whole lemon tart

This is my favorite lemon tart. There's no zesting or juicing or orchard worth of lemons required, just one single one that you grind, skin and all, with butter and sugar and eggs into the most gloriously bright and balanced dream of a dessert.