Crab Avocado Orange Salad with Honey Citrus Champagne Vinaigrette

Last night I made a new salad with fresh dungeness crab, avocado and oranges. Oranges right now are very sweet. The dish came out pretty and delicious. The hardest part is assembling it. Here is the recipe, which served 4.

Ingredients:

2 oranges, segments only, cut into about 1/3 inch pieces (cubes don't easily come from the orange segments)
1 avocado, peeled and seeded, cut into about 1/3 inch cubes
1/2 lb of fresh crab meat
Fresh watercress for garnish

For dressing:
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of Champagne Vinegar
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of orange juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Prepare the dressing first by whisking together in a bowl all the ingredients. Taste. Salt and pepper if needed. I did not use any.


2. To assemble salad on each plate I used a round metal mold about 3 inches tall (the biscuit cutter). Use avocado to make the first layer to completely cover the bottom and some, drizzle with some dressing. Next add a layer of oranges and drizzle with dressing. The last layer is crab, save some nice pieces to put on top. Again, drizzle a little bit of dressing on top of the crab. Carefully remove the mold. Garnish with fresh watercress.

Punjab Eggplant from Tasty Bite - new discovery

My new food discovery this week is Punjab Eggplant from Tasty Bite. This is an Indian eggplant dish that comes already cooked and all you need is to heat it up. Today I had it for lunch with red quinoa, soy nuggets and peas. Tasty food that does not have meat in it.

Russian Olivier Salad

Russian Olivier salad is a traditional salad in Russia and former USSR to serve on a special occasion like a birthday party or New Year's celebration. This year I made it for my husband's birthday.

The ingredients list is very basic: potatoes, carrots, peas and others. Dressing is the Mayonnaise. As with many other Russian dishes this salad has a great taste but needs work in presentation. Making something smothered in mayonnaise look sexy is a challenge. I also use ham instead of usual bologna, which I believe changes the name to stolichniy. My approach is cutting ingredients into small enough pieces so that every bite has most of them and using a round dish to arrange the salad on an individual plate with fresh parsley (shown above).

Here is the recipe I use. But most Russians eyeball the proportions of the ingredients depending on their taste and what they have in the fridge.

Ingredients:

3 medium yukon gold potatoes, boiled and cooled
3 eggs, boiled and cooled
5-6 small carrots, boiled and cooled
1 can (15.25 oz) of sweet peas, drained
6 small pickles
1 medium apple
1/4 of ham
2/3 cup of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley for garnish

Preparation:

Peel all the vegetables and apple. Remove the egg shell. Chop potatoes, eggs, carrots, pickles, ham, apple into small cubes (about 1/3-1/2 of an inch). Pickles and apple can be cut into even smaller cubes. Combine cubed ingredients with peas in a large bowl and mix with mayonnaise. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep salad in a fridge and serve cold with some fresh parsley on top.

A Long Weekend in Laguna Beach

This year I decided I needed some sun for the President's Day weekend and I got it, in Laguna Beach, CA. Here are the highlights from my trip.

Getting There: We took direct flight from Seattle to Orange County Santa Ana airport. We rented a car to get to our hotel. But frankly, you can't be without a car in Southern California.

Accommodations: We stayed at Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach. An oceanfront hotel with a pool and a superb restaurant.

Food: I did a lot of reading on yelp to find places to eat on our trip. Here is a list of restaurants we went to, all of which I would highly recommend.

1. Splashes Restaurant at Surf and Sand Resort offers excellent food. We had ahi tuna tartare and the best rack of lamb I have ever had. 

2. Carmelita's Kitchen in downtown Laguna Beach serves fantastic Mexican food. They do use a lot of pork fat! We had halibut fish tacos, tamale and chile relleno.

3. House of Big Fish and Ice Cold Beer Bar/Restaurant was a great place to hang out - loud bar, great food and it is also good for the families, prices are also reasonable.

Things to Do and See: We did a lot of walking on a beach. We walked along the beach that starts right at the Laguna Beach downtown area. 

One day we went to the Crystal Cove State Park. It is a great park to walk for a long time. Rocks with mussels and starfish are also an attraction.

A walk in Salt Creek Beach Park was very nice too.

Rainbow Chard with Bacon and Shallot

Lately I have been cooking rainbow chard with bacon, shallot and a little bit of chicken stock. It is very quick to make and is a good side dish to almost any meal. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fresh rainbow chard, washed and chopped as desired
2-3 slices of bacon, chopped
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 oz of chicken stock
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Saute bacon and shallot in a skillet on medium high heat for about 2 minutes until bacon starts to get brown. Add chard and chicken stock, stir, reduce heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Let cook for 5 minutes. Chard is ready to eat. Salt and pepper to taste if needed. I usually don't need any more salt since bacon and chicken stock have plenty.

Valentine's Day favorite

Every Valentine's Day I am awaiting for Fran's dark chocolate heart with caramel inside. It is my all time favorite this time of a year. Never tried? Do.

Party Food - Baked Hot Chicken Wings and Pigs in a Blanket

Big event happened this week in Seattle - Seahawks went to the Super Bowl and won it. I decided to make hot chicken wings and pigs in a blanket for the show last Sunday. Both came out delicious. Here are the recipes.

Baked Hot Chicken Wings

 
Ingredients:

3 lbs of chicken wings cut into segments

1/2 cup of white flour

2 tablespoons of canola oil

Franks Wing Hot sauce

Canola oil spray

Salt and Pepper to taste.

 
To serve:

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 3-4 inch strips

2-3 celery sticks, cut into 3-4 inch strips

Blue cheese dressing

Franks Wing Hot sauce

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl using your hands rub chicken wings with flour and oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Spray the baking sheet with an oil spray and layer chicken wings on it. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, turning chicken once.

2. Take wings out of the oven and using tongs dip each wing piece into Franks sauce. Put chicken wings on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and bake at 400 F for another 15 minutes, turning chicken once. Take chicken out.

3. Serve with celery and carrots. Use Franks sauce and Blue cheese dressing for dipping.

Pigs in a Blanket

Ingredients:

12 oz of uncured beef hot dogs (ended up using only 6 out of 8 in the package), cut in half

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry (Aussie Bakery brand)

1 egg

Flour

Canola oil spray

Preparation:

1. Defrost pastry in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Preheat oven to 450 F. Dust the table with flour and then using a rolling pin roll the dough out to desired size. Cut the dough into rectangular strips ( almost the same length as half of a hot dog) and then wrap each hot dog with one. Layer hot dogs wrapped in a dough on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with an oil spray.

2. In a small bowl beat and egg and rub an egg wash on each pastry. Bake hot dogs in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take out and eat. Some prefer having them with ketchup. They are tasty either way.

As always I encourage moderation. So enjoy a small plate of these delicious nuggets!