Bloody beautiful: Naranjas de sangre

Darlings, you know HOW MUCH LA DIVA TRIES to eat locally grown produce but I spotted some divine blood oranges at the grocery the other day and I just could not resist getting a few! I'd been complaining to the produce manager at my local grocery about a lack of availability of certain seasonal goodies, such as blood oranges. I go away for a couple of weeks and lo and behold, my request is granted (only took three years.)

A few months back, I was told by one of the produce workers the oranges don't grow in Florida and we get them from California. A quick Internet search has proven that false. If the store would have done a bit to support local orange farmers, I could have been eating them back in October, when they are harvested here in Florida! (Anyone know of any local suppliers I can support next season?)

California blood oranges are harvested throughout the winter depending on what region they are grown, early season oranges from November to January and late season from February to May. The sticker on the oranges only says "Sunkist" and USA so I'm not quite sure if they are from California but the timing would make it seem obvious.

In any case, La Diva is thrilled to get her greedy little paws on them again and immediately thought of a wonderful way to enjoy them! (No, Melony, NOT in sangria! You'd believe La Diva was a big ol' lush by the way you think all I do is come up with cocktail recipes!!!)

I found this dish in my cookbook of clipped recipes and I remember making it in the past and LOVING IT! I'm afraid I can't credit anyone in particular for this but I know I found this recipe online from a magazine when I lived in Australia!

Now, if you can get your hands on some wild salmon (in season) and fresh asparagus, you'll have all the makings of a lovely SPRING dinner! Enjoy, darlings!

The debate over eating wild salmon vs. farmed salmon....a topic for a future blog! You can learn more about sustainable fish here.

Char-grilled Salmon with Blood Orange Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:

3 T white wine vinegar
3 T white wine
1 green onion, chopped
1 sprig of thyme
3 black peppercorns
2 egg yolks
7 oz. butter, melted
3 blood oranges, squeezed

2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed
4 salmon fillets (wild if you can afford it!)
sea salt and pepper

Method:

Pour the wine and vinegar into a small saucepan with the green onion, thyme and peppercorns and simmer until reduced by half. Strain and place in a bowl.

Beat the egg yolks into the reduction one at a time and drizzle in the butter gradually whisking constantly until the mixture becomes thick.

Missing : Squeeze the juice of the oranges and put in a saucepan. Reduce the orange juice to 1/3 of its original quantity and stir into the hollandaise. Keep warm. (which I did by leaving the bowl on the stove top)

Bring a separate saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil and blanch the asparagus for 5 minutes until tender crisp.

Heat a char-grill pan over medium heat. Season the salmon and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked to your liking. Serve with the blood orange hollandaise and asparagus spears.

Click on the photo to see all its lusciousness!

Result: Pretty darn good but not as stellar as I would have thought. First of all, something is missing from the recipe and I had to adjust. The recipe said to put the "orange in a bowl until reduced to a third." I guess they meant to heat the juice in a pan until reduced.

I must admit, with the reductions, this sauce is a bit fiddly and La Diva certainly prefers cooking simply and does not usually make many sauces for that reason. But, it is worth it, calories and all, every once in a while!

Though very tasty and silky, my sauce came out a tad too thin for a proper hollandaise sauce. Perhaps its because the main method of making traditional hollandaise sauce is missing: the cooking over the double boiler. To thicken, I did put the sauce in a bowl over the potatoes I was boiling to mash, but it didn't work. I think I just didn't reduce the initial vinegar mixture enough and should have measured out the three tablespoons! Oh well, we'll try this one again to perfect the recipe, fo' sho'!

Enjoy the weekend, darlings! Remember to stop and smell the springtime flowers! Click to see the lovely Waterhouse painting in all its beauty!

However, La Diva is being a bit picky as this sauce really tasted delicious! Not as much of a tang as using lemon and the sauce comes out a light pinkish color. Instead of asparagus, I did a steamed vegetable medley of zucchini, green beans and the best, sweetest carrots from my farm share. DJ Nevah L8 loves his mash and since there was already such richness in the sauce and the salmon, I mashed the potatoes with a tiny bit of olive oil, milk and non-fat yogurt. All in all, a DIVALICIOUS spring time supper!
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