Fennel, Celery, Blood Orange and Pistachio Salad

Today was Open Door Weather at the office and I have zero complaints.  It is sunny, surprisingly warm and the sky is without a single cloud.  Birds are chirping.  I know this sounds like a big fuck you to my east coast sisters, but y'all just had a few Snow Days to tromp through freshly fallen snow and go sledding and have an excuse to drink spiked cocoa and binge eat all the snacks whilst watching every episode of Friends.  I have no excuses.  I HAVE to go outside and go to work and NOT wear all my pretty knit scarves and sometimes it gets too hot in my office and the only solution is to open all the doors, which are extremely tricky to lock again.  I guess I have a few complaints.

Apologies, that was extremely annoying.  I'm done.  Let us enjoy that sunshine.

BUT it is Winter Salad Season and despite the midday warmth, evening temperatures dip cold enough to merit chucking the fresh greens and going for something slightly heartier.

Cue fennel and the oh-so-seasonal blood orange, which are two of the greatest lovers in culinary history.  These ingredients are paired in endless variations, but in this salad here, I stay classic.  No frills, nothing too fancy.  Essential: the madonline.  Slice that fennel really thin.  Ooo la la.

We paired this salad with oven roasted trout, which was excellent, but any mild white fish would be welcome if you'd like to make this into a full meal.  To drink: Copain's 2013 Tous Ensemble Chardonnay.  We often drink Copain as Daniel worked there for nearly two years, but it never gets old.  The newest vintage of their Tous Chardonnay was the perfect pairing for this meal - vibrant and lemony, but with enough floral and stone fruit notes to feel balanced and food friendly.  Lemon verbena, peaches, and sunshine.  Such a gem in this unseasonable season!

FENNEL, CELERY, BLOOD ORANGE and PISTACHIO SALAD
serves 2

1 medium fennel bulb, sliced very thin (keep the fennel fronds for garnish)
4 stalks celery and leaves, sliced thin, leaves chopped
1 medium scallop, sliced thin
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 blood oranges
1 tablespoon olive oil
handful pistachios, toasted
10 - 12 mint leaves

Slice the fennel very thin with a mandoline.  Put in serving bowl.  Slice celery and shallot and add to bowl.  Add lemon juice and stir to coat vegetables.

Cut the rind and pith off the blood oranges.  Slice the fruit into rounds and add to bowl.  Squeeze the rinds over the bowl to get as much blood orange juice in the salad as possible.   

Gently toss with pistachios, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Just before serving tear the mint leaves and add to bowl.  Garnish with more mint and fennel fronds.

A Tart Little Tart

What a beautiful thing a blood orange is.  Deep garnet in color and exquisitely tart in flavor, these gems can brighten anybody's rainy February day.  As a fanatic for fruit, I'm especially taken with them during these lean months.  The colder it is outside, the more my body craves a good jolt of citrus.

A few weeks ago my friend at http://butterdate.blogspot.com/ cooked us a wonderful multi-dish meal that ended perfectly with an orange tart.  Delighted,  I devoured quite a few pieces, and then a few more the next morning.  Gorgeous splashes of citrus are nestled in an indulgent almond cream (one really cannot go wrong when almond cream is involved) and baked atop a flaky, buttery crust.  Pure winter tart heaven.  And quite handsome to boot.

My only mistake was not immediately begging her for the recipe, which is from the beautiful Big Sur Bakery cookbook.  Instead, when the craving hit,  I scanned multiple versions online and finally made sense of the full recipe by taking bits and pieces from each.  Every step was attempted with a little trepidation - I only had so many oranges and going to the store in the rain was not an option - but in about two hours flat I had a dazzling blood orange tart that was deemed wonderful upon the first bite.  Nothing like a tart little tart to perk up your Tuesday.

BLOOD ORANGE TART 

Adapted loosely from Big Sur Bakery

Serves 4 - 8

For Almond Cream: 
1/3 cup almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
3 tbsp salted butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp + 1 tsp all-purpose flour

For Tart Dough: 
3/4 cups (12 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes  
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
grated zest of one orange 
5 - 6 tbsp orange juice

For Assembling the Tart: 
1/3 cup orange marmalade (or any marmalade you fancy)
3 - 4 mixed oranges, or more if needed
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp cold unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Spread almonds on a baking tray and toast until fragrant and just browning, about 7-8 minutes.  Be careful not to burn them.  When they are cool, chop them coarsely.

Prepare your tart dough: in a medium sized bowl, combine butter, flour, sugar, salt, and zest.  Using your fingers, cut the butter and combine it with the dry ingredients until the butter is crumbly and the size of small peas.  Add the orange juice a few tablespoons at a time, mixing as you go until the dough is forming a ball and staying together.  It should be just a little sticky.  Turn out onto a well-floured surface and kneed until a smooth ball forms, about a minute.  Cover it with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until very cold. 

Make the almond cream: combine softened butter, powdered sugar, almond extract and salt using an electric hand mixer until well blended and fluffy.  Slowly, add the egg yolk and then the flour.  Mix until well combined.  Fold in the chopped almonds.  It should be almost the consistency of peanut butter.   Keep at room temperature. 

Set your oven temperature to 375 F. 

On well-floured parchment paper, roll out the tart dough.  Don't worry about it looking rustic and misshapen, that's half the fun!  Transfer to baking tray.  Using a spoon, top with the marmalade, leaving a one inch border around the edge.  Cover the jam with a layer of almond cream.  Fold in the edges creating a crust to prevent the jam from oozing out.  Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Prepare the citrus: using a paring knife, cut off each end of the orange.  Following the curve of the fruit, cut off the pith and peel.  Slice the oranges into thin rounds, removing seeds as you go.  

Assemble the tart: remove it from the refrigerator.  Top with citrus rounds.  Brush crust with beaten egg and sprinkle the whole thing with sugar.  Dot the oranges with butter to avoid burning.  

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until the crust and almond cream are a toasty golden brown.  Cool before serving.  Fabulous for breakfast the next day. 

And every good morsel deserves a delicious sip of something, don't you think?  In this case, I went with color - because why not - and popped some Loire Valley pink bubbly.  I was feeling all sorts of celebratory and knew that a little sparkling rose would do the trick.  This particular bottle is one of my favorites.   From biodynamic Clos de la Briderie, the Purete de Silex Brut Rose is made from Pineau d'Aunis, Pinot Noir, Grolleau Gris, and Groslot Noir - major players in the Loire Valley.  It is smashingly bright pink, the color of the day!  Ripe strawberry, zest, hints of cranberry, a subtle toastiness.  Best sipped while dreaming of spring's promise of sunshine or relishing in winter's citrus bounty.  And for under $20, this bottle is a complete steal.  All smiles.