Today's Special: The Color Orange

I spent days trying to come up with orange foods for IMBB?...

It really wasn't sure I could pull this one off...all I could think of was cheddar cheese!

Finally, I managed to put a few things together (hey, when I decide to do something, I tend to get a bit carried away).

So, submitted for your approval, my Orange dishes.



Cheese Tart, from New Recipes from Moosewood.

A flaky pastry crust (flour, butter, salt and ice water), with grated Cheddar, smoked Swiss, and Gruyere, as well as eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Baked about 45 minutes, at 350F.

I'd received my very first issue of Martha Stewart Living last week, which carried a recipe for making your own gravlax. I knew Matt would enjoy it, and hey...it's kind of orange-y!

Salmon fillets, rubbed with salt, covered in chopped dill, with a bit of vodka poured over. Wrap tightly in plastic, place in a non-reactive baking dish, and weight with heavy object(s). Turn fish every 12 hours; will be ready in three days.



The tart? Oh, fantastic as always. This is fast becoming one of our favorite recipes. I added a little extra cheddar on top, to make sure it looked orange!
The cheese is very set, warm, and filling. I don't mean the temperature is warm...the flavor is. Try it; you'll see what I mean.

I, obviously ( because I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat any fish or animals...for those who only skim my posts and make assumptions), didn't eat the gravlax, but Matt loved it. It came out really salty. We're not sure why, but any time we cure something, it's really heavy on the salt...no matter how much rinsing we do. But, it was good (according to him). It's very simple to make, and we used a really good piece of fish.

Next, Cream of (orange) Pepper Soup.




This took a bit more work, but it's not out of reach.

Char peppers, place in paper bag. Peel, seed and slice. Saute shallots, garlic and red onion three minutes. Add vegetable broth and peppers (reserving four slices), simmer 20 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup till smooth. Return to same pan,
Add half and half, red wine vinegar and cayenne pepper. Warm soup, ladle into bowls. Garnish with basil and reserved peppers.

This was a good soup. It's not too thick, and not too watery. At first, you get a nice, pleasant, roasted pepper flavor. Then, you get a kick from the cayenne...yet, it's not hot.
Nice.

And finally, Orange-coated Truffles.




Just cream, with a mix of semi and milk chocolate, coated with orange candy melts. No big; I just felt like rounding out the orange theme with a dessert!