orange « (y)our food choices™

Healthy and easy to make. It's time for some orange and black.

Every once in a while something truly inspired comes together without much thought. Maybe it has to do with last week’s Halloween celebration or maybe it has to do with the Giants crushing the Rangers in the World Series that made us think of black and orange. Tonight’s dinner consisted of our last piece of halibut from this summer’s catch in the bay, some left over mashed sweet potato and a little inspiration. It ended up being our tribute dish to the San Francisco Giants and their awesome World Series win. A reduction of balsamic vinegar with a little soy sauce drizzled at the end was all this dish needed to go from bland to fantastic.

The recipe for this dish is so simple that it’s a little silly to write it out, but here it is:

Seared halibut with sweet potatoes and balsamic reduction

2 sweet potatoes

2 pieces firm white fish (e.g., halibut or sea bass)

Olive oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Salt and pepper

Bake the sweet potatoes in a 450 degree oven until tender, approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool and peel or scope out the orange flesh into a bowl. Mash and season with salt and pepper.

After potatoes are made, salt the fish, heat a skillet over medium high heat, add the olive oil and sauté the fish for two minutes per side (more or less depending on the thickness of the fish).

While the fish is cooking, reduce the balsamic vinegar over high heat in a small skillet until caramelized. Watching the pan constantly to avoid burning. Add the soy sauce and place off heat until ready to assemble. Reheat briefly before serving.

Place the fish on top of the potatoes and drizzle a small amount of the balsamic reduction on top of the fish and around the plate. Enjoy!

Albeit small but delicious scoops; Orange-Tangerine Gelato and Cardamom Ice Cream, with chopped pistachios and blackberry honey.

With our upcoming trip to Paris, and summer right around the corner, thoughts of ice cream have been popping up for us. Since there was a ½ pint of heavy cream left over from Steve’s ice cream creation and only a few days left until it expired, I needed to come up with another flavor to compliment the delicious cardamom ice cream he made a few days earlier. Scouring our cookbooks and seeing what fresh fruit we had in abundance, I found a delicious gelato recipe from Martha’s Classic cookbook. Although she calls for blood oranges I made ours with a combination of naval and tangerine oranges. The result is reminiscent of eating the Creamsicles of our childhood. The orange goes perfectly with the cardamom. With a few chopped pistachios and a little drizzle of honey, the double scoop makes a simple childhood favorite into a sophisticated palate pleaser.

Orange-Tangerine Gelato

Adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook; The Original Classics

2 cups milk

zest of 1 orange (use a vegetable peeler and remove only the orange zest, no pith)

1 cup fresh orange/tangerine juice

5 large egg yolks

¾ cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

In a medium sauce pan, heat milk and orange zest over a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and let the milk seep for 30 minutes. In a small sauce pan gently heat the orange juice and reduce until only about ¼ cup remains, about 30-40 minutes. Allow the orange juice to cool completely.

Prepare an ice bath. Reheat the milk and orange zest. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Slowly add the milk to the egg yolks while whisking, then return the egg and milk mixture to the sauce pan. Continue to heat and stir with a wooden spoon until slightly thick. The custard should coat the back of the spoon.

Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and place the custard on the ice bath. Stir in the orange syrup and allow to completely cool before pouring the custard into an ice cream maker. Process the gelato according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze in a container.