Fresh arugula with oranges, shaved fennel & onion

On one of my trips to Ojai i had dinner in a little bistro in the middle of the village where all of the produce was fresh from local farmers.  I had a delicious salad with arugula, shaved fennel and some other goodies, but it was my first foray into raw fennel.  I loved it, but i knew i would since i adore licorice.  And yes, black licorice at that.  You can't have fun with fennel like you do with licorice whips -- no biting off the ends and using it like a straw in a soda pop.  But fennel has a nice crunch unlike licorice whips.  

I decided to make a salad to bring to Debbie's for lunch today, and I wanted the salad to be simple since i knew she had a lot of other dishes to go with it.  So, as delicious as the salad was in Ojai, i opted to leave out the berries, cheese and celery.  I'll save those goodies for another time.  I think most people enjoyed the salad i brought.  My only concern is should i not have dressed it until i got to Debbie's?  I knew she would have a lot going on, so i tossed mine with the dressing before leaving my home.  The fennel and onion didn't get soggy, but the arugula was a bit soft.  Either way, i think it had nice flavors and was different out of the ordinary.

Shaved fennel... paper thin

Shaved red onion... paper thin

Ingredients -

• one large fennel bulb
• one sweet red onion
• 1 package of fresh arugula
• two oranges, sectioned and sliced into bite-size pieces
• extra virgin olive oil
• red-wine vinegar
• sea salt
• fresh cracked pepper

Shave the fennel into paper thin slices.
Shave the onion into paper thin slices.
Mix into bowl with arugula.
Lightly toss with extra virgin olive oil, a couple splashes of vinegar, sea salt and black pepper.
Toss in orange segments.

Optional additions are shaved parmaesan, feta or goat cheese, along with either dried cranberries or sliced dried apricots or figs.

Voila!  Light and healthy.

Time for Orange Thyme Tea Cake

I find that summer is ideal for fruity desserts, and i love incorporating herbs in dessert, so this cake sounded perfect for me!  Other than Jessica, who doesn't enjoy a citrus graced dessert on a warm summer day?

I found this recipe from Lynn Smythe, the herbs & spices feature writer at Suite101.com.  With over 90 varieties of herbs and veggies in her organic garden, she sure knows her herbs.  You'll notice i added a bit more of the orange zest and juice, which i figure just enhances the orange taste.  You can stay true to Lynn's recipe or vary it as i did.  In fact, i think this would be delicious with lime or grapefruit (but be sure those devouring the grapefruit variety don't take lipitor since it can cause muscle pain).  I also understand that there are different varieties of thyme, such as orange thyme or lemon thyme.  None of my markets had those interesting varieties, so i used plain ol' fresh thyme.

Now that i've baked this cake, i must say it's extremely moist.  I'm anxious to hear what my taste-testers think.

Lots of fresh orange zest and chopped thyme

Ingredients -

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter - room temperature
• 2 eggs - room temperature
• 2 teaspoons orange zest from one orange
• 2 tablespoons orange juice from one-half of an orange
• 2 teaspoons fresh orange thyme leaves

Directions for the Orange Thyme Tea Cake -
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until well blended.
Add the eggs, orange zest, orange juice and thyme to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well.
Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well blended.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured nine inch square baking dish.
Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and poke a bunch of holes in the top of the cake with a fork.
Immediately pour the glaze over the hot cake and let the glaze thoroughly soak through the cake.
When cooled to room temperature, cut the cake into approximately 16 pieces turn the cake out of the pan, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, and enjoy!

Ingredients for the Orange Glaze -

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

Directions for the Orange Glaze -
Place the orange juice and granulated sugar into a small bowl.
Use a large spoon to mix the ingredients together until all the sugar has been thoroughly dissolved.