Winter Break

It's cold outside.  In fact, for the past week or so, it's been damn cold for Los Angeles.  I know it's January and the middle of Winter, but in Southern California that usually means some rain and highs in the 70's, maybe 60's.  But it's cold...and I mean, 'bring in your tender plants, frost advisory in the San Fernando Valley, 34 degrees at 7 a.m.' cold.  Unusual.  Strange. Downright weird.  I had to break out the leather jacket, sweaters, and thermal shirts.  The heat has been running every night.

Now, in weather like this, you want foods that speak of warmth and comfort.  Soups, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, a cup of hot chocolate as you're sitting on your couch wrapped in blankets, bundled up and cozy.  How about a salad?  Not the first thing you think of eating when it's cold outside.  I, myself, am guilty of not eating much salad once there's a chill in the air and the Season of Gluttony begins (roughly the time between Thanksgiving to New Year's).  Cookies, wine, cookies, pasta, cookies, cheese, candy, bourbon, bread, and cookies is more like the list of what I consume during the holidays.  There may be a vegetable thrown in there for good measure.  But the holidays are over, it's time to stop the over-indulging, and maybe you've promised yourself to pay more attention to what you're eating and get yourself back to the gym.  Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

A salad on a cold afternoon is much more appealing when it's topped with a warm vinaigrette.  I also added a heap of beans and thick shavings of Parmesan cheese.  The vinaigrette is an easy to whip together recipe from the Food52 site and while it's not advertised as a warm dressing, it's delicious warm with the Dijon mustard and Worcestershire in it.  Add whatever beans you like to this.  I made a white and red beans mix the day before, just because I have so much in the pantry and want to use them more frequently.  They ended up in a bean and vegetable soup, beans and rice, and this salad.  I was lucky enough to gather arugula and curly green lettuce from my window box before the cold nights got to them.  The parsley has held up, thankfully.

January Salad with Warm Vinaigrette

1 cup spinach greens
1 cup lettuce
1/2 cup arugula
1/4 cup fresh parsley
3/4 cup beans, cooked
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
6 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Shaved Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Salad Dressing (from Food52)

Mix all your ingredients in a bowl.  Heat 1/4 cup of vinaigrette over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add shaved Parmesan and drizzle with dressing.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Holding onto Summer

You know as well as I do that when Labor Day hits on the first Monday in September, there's a shift in the season.  Despite the fact that the first day of Autumn isn't until September 22, you invariably start packing up the vestiges of Summer.  If you have kids, they go back to school and you begin to pack up the fun.    The days feel less carefree and dusk begins to arrive a few minutes earlier every evening.

But look outside...the weather isn't giving up it's heat, humidity, or beating sun just yet. September can be notoriously hot.  So, while part of you may be thinking about apple pies, hot chocolate on a chilly fall evening, or a whiskey to warm you up on a rainy Saturday afternoon, there's another part of you that doesn't want to let go of the bright, cool tastes of Summer.

The past three weeks of 90+ degree weather here in Los Angeles has made me want to put as little effort as possible into cooking.  I've baked way less than I have in months, and I am happily still in an eating rut of sandwiches where the closest thing to cooked is toasted bread and salads multiple times a day is okay by me.  The fruit bowl on the dining table has been overflowing this Summer:  plums, peaches, nectarines, berries, and melons have abounded.  I've been perfectly content standing over the kitchen sink, biting into a ripe peach, trying to keep the juices away from my shirt.  I'll think about making something more substantial, and find myself grabbing a plum and calling it a meal.

I was able to pick up cantaloupe a few days ago for practically pennies.  I think they were three for a dollar.  Since I can't resist an excellent price, I bought them.  I can easily eat half a melon sprinkled with a little sea salt and be a happy camper, but with three melons in the fridge, I knew I'd have to do something else with them.  After making July's cucumber soup, sometime over the past month I came across a recipe on Pinterest for a chilled cantaloupe soup.

Obviously, it took a few days to get the motivation up to make it.  I cut up the cantaloupe a couple of days ago with every intention of making it within hours...but as I mentioned before...this heat.  It makes me lazy.  It makes me wish I could just lounge by the pool drinking sangria.  (I don't have a pool, but I did have sangria.)

Well...I finally made it.  It was worth the wait.

Cantaloupe Soup
(Adapted from a recipe on Food52.com)
Makes 4-5 cups

2 medium cantaloupe melons, cut up (about 6 cups)
1/4 cup almond milk
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one orange
Juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced
2 tablespoon jalapeno 
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

In a blender, add half the cantaloupe and all ingredients except the sour cream and feta.  Blend until pureed and continually add the remaining cantaloupe.  Blend until  no chunks remain.  In a small bowl, mix feta and sour cream  until the consistency of cake frosting. 

Pour soup into bowls and top with a dollop of the feta cream.  You can also serve it as an appetizer in shot glasses (or any small glass).