If you don’t think salad is a hearty enough meal for the dead of winter, this one will certainly change your mind… With a warm duck breast sliced atop a flavor packed mix of greens, vegetables, nuts and cheese, it’s a dish that’s rich and satisfying but also pretty skinny.
I only recently stumbled upon this fabulous combination of flavors at The Waterfront Restaurant in our favorite home away from home, Camden, Maine. It was Christmastime and there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground…but the sun was bright, the sky a vivid blue and the outside temperature was an almost balmy 34 degrees. Somehow, I didn’t feel like a cold seafood salad but didn’t really want a hot chowder either.
I ended up ordering this dish instead and, by the time lunch was finished–and everyone at the table had sampled my plate–we all decided that this warm salad would be perfect any time of year.
There was a wicker basket filled with pink grapefruit sitting on my counter. In the background, my kitchen window was like a snow globe, showcasing big flakes falling thickly in the woods.
My love for Meyer lemons continues this week with another dish using these amazingly flavorful citrus fruits. This time it's a pasta dish that's done in less than 15 minutes. It's meatless, so it's great for vegetarians. But the savory flavors of garlic and crushed red pepper will also appeal to the meat-and-potatoes guys. But what really lifts this dish is the Meyer lemons, which add a tantalizing zing that refreshes the palate.
Good citrus can almost make you glad it’s winter. When it’s in season — that’s now — it’s equal or superior to anything else you can buy in the plant kingdom. Any way you can devise to eat it, you’re taking advantage of something at its peak.
Oh this little butternet squash tarte tatin, how much do I love you? Enough to have you three times over the past few weeks, all for the sake of “recipe testing”, you know.