the list of now

Sounds like a Harry Potter spell to enlarge oranges and lemons, right? It is actually the latin name for the pomelo.

Citrus Maxima Watercolor Illustration by John Reeves

I’m am currently obsessed with the pomelo.  It tastes like a milder and sweeter grapefruit, but gigantic. Melon-sized. I discovered it last winter and was really sad in the spring when it was out of season.

Happy to say that it’s currently back in season! They are a bit pricey (I found some for $3.50 each at a nearby market), but large, so you can split them in half and save some for later, or share with someone else if you can part with it.  I try not to eat them all in one sitting, but I’ve gone through 3 this weekend already.

So. Good.

I am a wildly experimental cook. So when I had watermelon gazpacho at a restaurant recently and decided I needed to make it at home, I didn’t go looking for a good recipe for watermelon gazpacho, I made gazpacho how I always make it (more or less) and then pureed and threw in a bunch of pieces of watermelon. I wasn’t sure that would work out.  Flavors can clash sometimes.

Luckily, it worked perfectly and came out absolutely delicious. So I thought I’d share.

Please note, you make the majority of this the night and let it sit overnight before you plan to eat it.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes (hothouse) or 6 medium (tomatoes on the vine)
1 large cucumber or 2 pickling cucumbers (I prefer the latter, for the crunch factor)
1 red or vidalia onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 red bell peppers
2 stalks of celery
2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
half a lemon, freshly-squeezed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional, not  for vegetarian or vegan gazpacho)
3 cups of V8 vegetable juice (I use the low sodium variety)
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

For the following morning:

approx. 3 cups of watermelon (I tried to measure loosely as I was cutting it up

Instructions

1. Chop all the vegetables, somewhat finely. If you like chunky gazpacho, chop more loosely.  Combine in a large bowl with cilantro and garlic.
2. Add in the tomato juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and use a blender or food processor to blend thoroughly. I use an immersion blender (otherwise known as my favorite kitchen tool EVER) to mix everything into a chunky soupy puree right in the bowl.
3. Put it into an airtight plastic or glass container, covered and refrigerate overnight so the flavors can all blend together nicely.
4. The next day, chop up the watermelon and puree it in a food processor or blender. Pour the watermelon into the rest of the gazpacho and mix well.

That’s it!

It’s easy. It’s perfect for summer when I don’t want to turn on my stove ever. It also freezes nicely if you have a lot of it and want to save some for later.

Today, I am a guest-blogger over at one of my favorite foodie blogs, Pizzelles, where I wrote about how to make simple chocolate bark and put your own spin on it.  I featured two that I regularly make:  a white chocolate peppermint bark and a spicy dark chocolate bark with pistachios and almonds!   Over the past week my house has turned into a small holiday candy factory – I made two chocolate barks, peppermint fudge, sweet + salty candied pecans, skillet toffee, and I have yet to make sea salt caramels, but those are next on my list.

I make batches of several kinds of candy every year and they are all wildly successful as gifts.  I get loads of thanks, compliments and even special requests.  So I’m going to make it really easy for you to get started if you’ve never made any of these.   Even though I’ve put my own spin on my versions over the years and I encourage wild experimentation, these are recipes that I have gotten from other people.  I link and give credit where credit is due, except for the barks.  I have been making those for so long, I can’t recall where I got a recipe from.

Here are 4 sure-fire recipes that you can make and give this year, with limited time and not-too-expensive ingredients:

1.  chocolate bark
Head right on over to Pizzelles for my own basic recipe and suggestions on how to make a variety of different kinds.

2.  skillet toffee
I found this recipe at the kitchn and made it for the first time this year.  If you are not familiar with the kitchn blog, it is the part of the Apartment Therapy Empire of Everything Good in the Universe.  The part where Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan presides over discussion of all things foodie and a treasure trove of such remarkably good recipes that even I have managed to make several without messing them up!  This one took some patience in stirring and stirring, but man was it worth it!  I brought this toffee to a party tonight and wished I could call it my own design.

Skillet Toffee
makes about 2 1/4 pounds

1 pound unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 ounces good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup chopped toasted blanched almonds

Please click here to go the kitchn site and the original post of this excellent recipe! (Edited for copyright purposes since this recipe is not my work.  I hope you will support that site and find a lot more great recipes to try there!)

3.  peppermint fudge

I first saw Rachel Ray on an episode of Oprah making fudge in the shape of a wreath.  I didn’t like the wreaths.  I didn’t like the toppings or the stuff she put in hers.  So I stole the basic recipe and tweaked it to make one I did like.

All I do is melt a bag and 3/4 of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a pan on superlow heat or a double-boiler with one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk.  I stir in a tsp of peppermint extract.  I stir constantly until it’s melted and then press it into a buttered casserole dish to set.  I break up candy canes or peppermint candies with a hammer and I top the fudge with the candy pieces while it’s still hot and press them into it lightly.

(Sometimes I use about half the amount of semisweet and the other half bittersweet chocolate instead.)  That’s it!  I stick it in the fridge to cool, but let it get back to room temperature to cut it up later into little squares.

4.  candied pecans

I use a recipe from the amazing Smitten Kitchen, another of my favorite foodie blogs.  It works for all kinds of nuts, but I am in love with pecans, so that is what I make.  Easy easy easy and soooooo yummy.  I end up eating more of these than I give away.

Sugar-and-Spice Candied Nuts

1/3 cup dark-brown sugar
2/3 cup white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound walnut or pecan halves or whole peeled hazelnuts
1 egg white, room temperature
1 tablespoon water

Please click here to go to the Smitten Kitchen site and the original post of this excellent recipe! (Again, edited for copyright purposes since this recipe is not my work. Go support this fabulous site and try out more of their recipes!)

1.  Half-Sour Pickles from Trader Joe’s.  Salty.  Predictable.  Whatevs.  I bought two jars last time and they were gone inside of a week.  It’s an illness.

2.  The Beach.  Today was a nasty, rainy, windy mess or else I would have gone there just to walk and feel better.

3.  Fake fruit.  This is a weird one.  I love real fresh fruit and that has been a craving lately as well.  But for some ungodly reason, I have also been craving the pseudo-refreshing flavors of crap like Watermelon Bubbleyum that I was not allowed to chew in my youth and snuck with my cousins or Skittles or Starburst or popsicles best described by their color, not intended fruit flavor… like the mysterious not-quite-lime green popsicle!   Even a middling not fresh, but not utter crap fake fruit something would do… like Del’s for instance – Holy Hell!  What I would not give for it to be after Memorial Day and therefore, time for the DEL’S right now!

4.  Tattoos.  More of them.  One at a time, probably, although if someone gave me some kind of 5 for one price package deal, I wouldn’t be complaining and I would park my ass in that chair for a couple of days if need be.  I have several planned… I need to get a move on.  More ink.  Now.  Or as soon as possible.  I’m having dreams about this lately.

5.  Nime Chow.  And someone who appreciates Nime Chow to go with me to get Nime Chow.   Anyone?  Anyone?  Kally?  Bueller?

Just a quick note for my fellow Rhode Islanders, go to RI.gov to get full election results for our state.   Not many surprises here, but I’m still delighted.  We have a very, very liberal-leaning state.

And if you read my post yesterday on Question 2, I am SO happy to say that it passed by a large margin!!!!

I am feeling so very hopeful and inspired just thinking about all the progress that can be accomplished in the next four years in my local community, my state and now, all over our country and our relationship with the world!