Blood Orange Olive Oil and Pacific Spice Grilled Shrimp

Are you ready for another recipe? How about a tantalizing shrimp appetizer, that could possibly even double as a main entree,,, let's say if you were having tacos. I found a very special relationship with the Pacific Spice Vinegar and the Blood Orange olive oil,,,oh and the salt block as well!

Blood Orange Olive Oil and Pacific Spice Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

Shrimp
1/3 cup Blood Orange Olive Oil
1/8 cup Pacific Spice Vinegar
1/2 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoons chopped garlic, or to taste
1 jalapeno, sliced ( seeds removed if wanted)
salt ( if not using a salt block) and pepper to taste

Combine blood orange olive oil, pacific spice, parsley, garlic, jalapeno, and s/p. Pour on top of shrimp, let marinate for 1-4 hours or over night.

Place salt block on grill, preheat grill on med-high. Add shrimp to salt block. Grill for about 8-10 minutes, or until shrimp is done.

Or, to bake in the oven:
Preheat oven to 375*
Bake in oven for 8 minutes or until done.

Serve as an appetizer or have serve with tacos. Enjoy!

Blood Orange Roasted Pork Tenderloin with a Fig Balsamic reduction sauce

Happy Holidays to all of you and your families. I thought that it might be fun to have a countdown to Christmas, each day I will post some great recipes to enjoy during this holiday season. Last year I did a countdown for Thanksgiving and came up with some fantastic recipes that could be used for any holidays, so make sure to check those out under November 2013.

For this countdown, I will start off with a delicious Roasted Pork Tenderloin using the Blood Orange Olive Oil with a combination of fresh chopped sage, yum! This would be a wonderful meal to entertain. With out further ado...


Blood Orange Roasted Pork Tenderloin


Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage
1/3 cup Blood Orange Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced


Preheat oven to 375*

Combine Blood Orange Olive oil, sage, garlic and salt and pepper in bowl. Lay pork tenderloin in casserole pan. Pour mixture and spread over pork. Bake in oven 45 minutes or until inside measures 165*.

Meanwhile make reduction sauce:

Fig Balsamic Reduction sauce

3/4 cup Fig Balsamic
1/4 cup Merlot
3-4 fresh figs ( or 1 persimmon sliced)


Combine ingredients in small stock pot. Place pot over medium heat. Reduce mixture by one half.

When pork is done, set out to stand for about 10 minutes. Pour reduction sauce over pork and serve.

Guest recipe: KISS Dressing

Joan Smith from Castle Ridge Olive Oil shared her KISS Dressing - Keep it Simply Scrumptious!

After that Thanksgiving production, you'll want something light and delicious.

In your salad bowl:

Add 1 T Castle Ridge Olive Oil

Add 1 T of Chaparral Gardens Vinegar (plum basil balsamic, blackberry balsamic, or any other

Shake garlic salt lightly on surface (probably about 1/4 t)*

Add 1/4 t lemon pepper

Add 1/8 t dried yellow mustard or 1/4 t Dijon

Add ½ t fresh honey (or agave or chicory syrup or maple syrup)

Whisk lightly in bowl. Add salad greens, tomatoes, cucumber, garbanzo beans, grated carrot, chopped celery, jicama, or whatever you have available.  Toss and serve. 

*If you are avoiding salt, add a quick squeeze of lemon juice and 1/8t lemon zest.           

Guest recipe: Olive Oil Appetizer

Joan Smith from Castle Ridge Olive Oil shared this great recipe with us!

She wrote: This appetizer is quite attractive and can be served as an appetizer or on each plate to greet the guests as they are seated for dinner.  Serve in a spoon shaped dish - like the porcelain spoons used for soup. Square shaped spoons are available at Pier One or other specialty shops and plastic appetizer spoons are available on the internet.

Also for a gluten-free alternative, see the note below.

Serves 8 guests

Ingredients:     

½ C Castle Ridge Olive Oil (with a 1/4tsp of lemon zest blended in if you choose!)

1/4 C buttermilk

½ cucumber (be certain it is sweet, not bitter - always taste cucumbers before serving) chopped into small pieces - about the size of a square pea!

16 cherry tomatoes or 2 tomatoes - Sliced into small pieces and seeds/liquid discarded.

½ C toasted Panko (or bread crumbs)  - place crumbs in small pan with 1 t of butter and stir fry for a few minutes until crumbs are buttery and crisp. 
Garnish with a few grains of sea salt.

Assemble: Place ½ t of olive oil in spoon and 3 drops of buttermilk (about 1/4 t).   Place 1tsp of cucumbers, 1 tsp of tomatoes (hopefully they are really sweet tomatoes!), and top with Panko crumbs.

Gluten free alternatives for crumbs: grated red radish, grated daikon radish or chopped cilantro!

            

 Enjoy the left over ingredients on your salad the next day.

Guest recipe post: Chocolate Ganache Dessert with Nut Crust

Joan Smith brought Castle Ridge Olive Oil to our 1st Annual Carmel Valley Olive Growers Festival! She has graciously shared some recipes with us and let's start with the best meal of any day: dessert!

Chocolate Ganache Dessert with Nut Crust

Nut crust for chocolate ganache pie (may be used with pumpkin, fruit, lemon curd, or any other filling.)

1/3 C cashews (preferably raw)

1/3 C almonds (“)

1 C almond flour (or cashew flour, hazelnut flour, or regular flour)

1/3 C rapadura (or any raw sugar or regular sugar)

1/3 C coconut oil

½ t Vanilla

1/4 t salt

Place nuts in food processor and process to medium (consistency of coarse ground coffee)

Add rapadura and flour and process to mix. Add about half of the coconut oil and process. Continue to add oil until the mixture holds together and you could pat it down in a spring-form pan (pan that allows you to remove the rim from the base - it makes it easier to serve). Add vanilla and salt, process for last time. Place crust mixture in spring form pan evenly covering the base and teasing it up the sizes of the pan.  (I use a sandwich bag with my hand inside to pat it down - it works without being sticky and shapes the crust more easily.)

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes - check - if starting to brown - remove from oven.  It will smell very nutty and buttery - yum!

While the nut crust is baking, prepare your Chocolate Ganache

1 C heavy cream (You may add some culinary lavender or a balsamic or fruit vinegar  reduction.* If you are adding liquid, just reduce the cream amount by 2T and add that amount of syrup. It is fabulous!)
9 oz of chopped dark chocolate (Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar is the absolute best flavor and least expensive!)

Gently warm the cream in a pan on the stove, just until bubbles start to appear around the edge. Don’t boil it. But - if you do - just skim off top and use it anyway. Chocolate makes things very forgiving!

Remove from stove and place chocolate in pan.  Let it sit for a couple of minutes and then start whisking the mixture.  It will blend very quickly and you will have a satiny chocolate ganache!

Pour the ganache over the baked crust. Let it sit on cool counter to firm up. If you want to hurry things along you may chill it. When you chill chocolate it loses the satiny shine on the top - but still tastes great.             

Note: This pie can be frozen for later use so make two if you want or make ahead for an party! - Once it is frozen, defrost about one or two hours before the party - drizzle some caramel lines on top and grate some chocolate on top or grate some nuts and it will be gorgeous!

This whole process takes me about 30 minutes to complete. Easy dessert and quite elegant to serve.  Be certain to serve very small portions. Drizzle with Castle Ridge Olive oil, balsamic syrup, and sea salt.        

*Balsamic Vinegar reduction: Place ½ C of balsamic vinegar in small sauce pan on low burner. Heat until it starts to boil off. When it is reduced down about half, you will have the consistency you need. At that point watch it because it can burn quite quickly.

Garlic EVOO and Plum Basil Bison and Sausage Meatloaf

Yes I mentioned it, meatloaf, and if you are much like me you will glance over this posting and not give it a good look...but PLEASE DON'T...this is the first meatloaf recipe I have loved. I can't get any credit for this one, our lovely store manager, Deb came up with this and you don't want to miss out on this fabulous meal. So let me share.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of ground bison
1 pound Italian chicken sausage, casing removed
1/2 red onion minced and lightly sauteed with garlic( Add 2 Tablespoons Garlic EVOO to pan. Set pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for about 5-7 minutes just to soften)
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1/3 cup almond milk ( we have have milk allergy in our family so feel free to substitute)

Preheat oven to 50*
In large bowl combine onion and garlic mix. Then add egg, breadcrumbs, and almond mild. Ensemble into loaf and place in loaf pan. Bake 350* for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile make gravy:

1/4 cup Quail & Olive Plum Basil Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/8 cup Pinot Noir
1/8 cup Chicken stock

Boil down until mixture is cut in half. Serve with cauliflower (or regular)  mashed potatoes and wilted greens. Enjoy!

Basil EVOO watermelon skewers

Okay, are you up to something that will WOW your guests? I have the best, and I do mean BEST appetizer for you! How about watermelon paired with Quail & Olive California Basil EVOO for a tantalizing experience?? I bet no one else will bring this and once you start eating, well lets just say it is hard to only go for one helping! Oh and did I mention this is a fabulous activity to involve your children or grandchildren.

Ingredients:

Cubed watermelon
Feta cheese, cut in squares
24 basil leaves
Skewers
Quail & Olive California Basil EVOO

Directions:

Cut up watermelon into cubes, seeds removed.
Cut up feta into cubes
Wash and remove bail leaves

Take a skewer and thread a cube of watermelon, basil and feta. Arrange on platter. Then drizzle Quail & Olive California Basil EVOO over watermelon. Yum!