Tag Archives | grapefruit

Grapefruit Avocado Couscous

By on March 12, 2012 in Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes

In order to make sure I keep getting fresh-tasting, delicious meals during this crazy week of Not-Wanting-To-Cook-SXSW, I’ve made a refreshing grapefruit and avocado couscous salad. It’s perfect for this almost-spring weather we have, and I love how pretty the Texas grapefruit looks alongside the green avocado. Make sure you use avocados that are firm, yet ripe. You want the avocado to maintain its shape in the salad and not get mushy.

You can easily add a zesty vinaigrette to this salad, but I prefer to let the fresh flavors of the grapefruit and avocado shine.

Grapefruit Avocado Couscous Salad

1 cup dry couscous
2 large red grapefruit
2-4 small avocados (or 2 large)
1 tablespoon finely diced shallot
Juice of 1 lime
½ cup diced fresh parsley or cilantro
Salt and pepper

Set a saucepan with 2 cups of water or vegetable stock to boil. Once water is boiling, pour in couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Section your grapefruit (a helpful tutorial video is located over at Kitchen Daily) and place onto a paper towel. Halve avocados, remove pits, and slice into small chunks. Put avocado in a large bowl along with shallot; drizzle lime juice over the top and stir gently.

Fluff couscous with a fork and add to the bowl. Add grapefruit and parsley or cilantro and stir gently to combine all ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and chill until ready to serve, up to 12 hours in advance. (Any longer and the avocado might start to oxidize and turn an unattractive brown.)

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Salad of Roasted Beets, Grapefruit, and Escarole

By on February 27, 2012 in Gluten-free, Recipes, Salads, Vegan

The inspiration for this dish is Elise Bauer’s Orange and Beet Salad Recipe, one one of my favorites this time of year– the brief window when both citrus and spring root veggies are in season in Central Texas.

I replaced the arugula in her recipe with escarole; this mild winter green has a slightly bitter flavor, with a crunchier texture than arugula.  I also opted for Texas pecans over walnuts, since you can’t beat the nutty pecan flavor against the pucker of Texas grapefruit.

To sweeten up Elise’s dressing, I added local honey and grapefruit juice. Our grapefruit have been quite juicy this year, so be sure to peel and segment the grapefruit for this salad over a small bowl. You’ll probably catch enough juice to make the dressing, without needing to juice a separate fruit.

 

Salad of Roasted Beets, Grapefruit, and Escarole (serves 4)

1 bunch escarole, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
3 beets, roasted and skins removed, chopped
1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
1/4 cup pecan halves
Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper to taste

Roast the beets well ahead of time, and peel away the skins once the vegetables have cooled. Prepare remaining veggies and grapefruit,  and combine them in a large bowl. Whiz the dressing ingredients together in a blender, or mix them together in a small jar. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss, serve immediately.
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Texas Grapefruit Margaritas

By on February 22, 2012 in Beverages, Recipes, Slider

Have you ever heard of National Margarita Day? I hadn’t until I hopped on to Facebook this morning, where people were posting many, many pictures of margaritas. By the end of the work day, there were so many posts about tequila that I practically couldn’t see straight. Lucky for me, it was a short drive home where I have quite an acumulation of Local Box grapefruit– perfect for making margaritas after work!

This recipe is adapted from the LA Times’ Grapefruit Margarita. I skipped the salt they suggested and sweetened up the recipe even further by adding some fresh orange juice into the mix. Instead of Triple Sec, I used Paula’s Texas Orange, an orange liqueur made here in Austin. Finally, I skipped the cocktail shaker and margarita glasses in favor of mason jars. A big mason jar is so much easier to use for this recipe than a cocktail shaker because you can mix everything together at once. (Most cocktail shakers are too small.) And I find small mason jars to be a much more versatile use of cupboard space than specialty cocktail glassware.

Texas Grapefruit Margaritas (yields 4 drinks)

1 1/4 cup grapefruit juice, with pulp (about 2 medium grapefruits)
1/3 cup orange juice, with pulp (about 1 small orange)
1 ounce lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)
5 ounces reposado tequila
2 ounces Paula’s Texas Orange

Combine all the ingredients over ice in a large mason jar. Put on the lid and shake until juice is well chilled. Pour into 8 oz. mason jars to serve.

 

 

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Vegan French Toast with Grapefruit Syrup

By on February 6, 2012 in Breakfast, Vegan

French toast is the ultimate cold weather comfort food. It’s warm and cozy and sweet, perfect for winter evenings when I don’t feel like putting a lot of effort in for dinner. This recipe for vegan French toast tastes a little sweeter than your typical egg-based dish, and it’s a cinch to prepare. To make it fancy, I serve it with a homemade citrus syrup, made with whatever local citrus I happen to have on hand.

 

 

Vegan French Toast with Homemade Grapefruit Syrup (serves 4)

Syrup:
1 cups fresh orange juice
2 cups fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 cup granulated organic sugar
1 tablespoon grated grapefruit peel
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
French toast:
1 cup vanilla soy milk or almond milk
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon granulated organic sugar
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
4-6 slices day-old vegan bread
Powdered sugar, to garnish

First, prepare the syrup: Combine the juice, sugar, and grapefruit peel in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to a low boil and cook to a thick syrup, and reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Add the butter and almond extract and whisk to combine. Remove syrup from heat and set aside.

Stir together milk, flour, sugar and nutritional yeast in a shallow bowl. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium. Dip a slice of bread in the milk mixture and cook in the heated skillet until it is golden brown, 2-3 minutes on each side. Repeat with remaining slices of bread. Slice fFrench toast into triangles and arrange on plates. Sift powdered sugar over the top of the French toast and serve with warm citrus syrup on the side.

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Local Box Meal Plan: March 14-18

By on March 15, 2011 in Uncategorized

Happy Last Average Frost Day in Central Texas! We continue our march toward spring with more slicing tomatoes this week, along with some tasty cool weather produce.

Slicing Tomatoes – Gundermann
Lettuce Heads – Fruitful Farm
Spinach – Naegelin Farm
Mustard Greens – Gundermann
Shallot Scallions – Lund Produce
Navel Oranges OR Grapefruit – G&S Grove
Bok Choy OR Green Cabbage OR Collard Greens – Naegelin Farm
Green Garlic – Texas Daily Harvest
Multicolored Carrots OR Beets – Animal Farm

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNWTDFKLnQ4]

Stuffed tomatoes – These are filled with a cheesy spinach mixture. I’ll add chopped shallot scallions or green garlic for more flavor.

Mustard greens with honey orange vinaigrette – Use grapefruit instead of oranges if you get them, and add sliced green garlic or shallot scallions.

Chicken lettuce wraps – If you’re looking for something to do with your lettuce besides make salad. You can leave out the carrots if you don’t get them, but I think it would be tasty to add some chopped collards, cabbage, or bok choy to the mix, whichever you get.

If you get beets, this honey-balsamic beet recipe looks awesome.

- Stephanie

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