Oh My Darling...Oh My Darling...Oh My Darling Clementine...or did you mean Satsuma!

It is that time of year my friends when California produce switches out its summer clothes to its winter garb of kale, cabbage, onions, chard, carrots, beets, turnips and citrus. We go through cycles of eating all that is local and just about the time we get sick of eating persimmons (do we EVER tire of eating that glorious fruit, Ingrid!) the small and unassuming satsuma becomes comes ripe and ready for us to devour her delicious nectar. The nectar of the gods. She is tender, seedless and full of sweet juice. You can't have her prematurely, however, because she needs time to grow and develop. The warm fall days and cooler nights of October and November ensure that she will be plump and ready to eat. I love the way her skin peels back so easily revealing the soft orange color of her flesh. The first bite of the season reminds me of Thanksgiving and the winter solstice, another year gone by. My kids eat her sweet gifts by the dozen...literally eating a dozen in a day. Thankfully, we have local organic choices in our area. Five pound bags of these beauties are available at our local Coop and Farmer's Market from November to the end of December.

For all who are interested, the satsuma is a member of the mandarin family. It is a very cold hardy citrus fruit that has recently seen a revival in the Central Valley of California. It is a seedless, thin skinned (don't tease her) easy to peel fruit that originated in Japan some 700 years ago. It was brought here in the 1800's and by the 1900's over a million trees had budded in the United States. The name satsuma comes from the Satsuma Province in Japan.

Our girl, satsuma, boasts a whopping 30 calories per fruit and her flesh and juice provide ample of amounts of calcium, zinc, vitamin C and fiber. According to Chinese Medicine, her dried peel proves useful for digestive ailments. We are lucky to have her come into our lives with gusto this time of year. Go to the Capay Satsuma stand at the local Davis Farmer's Market and get yourself a bag or three of these joyful fruits.

Satsumas are a delicious addition to a winter salad. I like to eat them mixed in with chopped romaine lettuce along with some argula and endive with a light dressing. Add some roasted almond, maybe some steamed yellow beets and that is it. Personally, I think that eating these fruits by themselves is best. My favorite recipe is as follows: carefully and lovingly make a pot of chai with steamed soy milk or milk of your choice, break off a chunk of dark chocolate and peel yourself a satsuma. Sit in your favorite chair with a good book or magazine...perhaps with a cat nearby and enjoy a moment to yourself.

Lentils Save the Day!

It is November and cold in Davis, Ca. It isn't normally this chilly and in fact, I just finished covering up my sedums with plastic to avoid possible sudden death after tonight's predicted freezing temperatures. Usually I don't put on a heavy wool sweater here until mid December simply because it is not cold enough. My husband likes to joke that our winters are like summer in New Hampshire and I tend to agree...but not tonight. Tonight it is cold and my body is craving something warm and nourishing. I had already planned to make pumpkin pancakes for the boys this evening and was looking forward to the lovely, aromatic smell of cinnamon and cloves cooking with the pumpkin, but what was I going to make? I can't eat gluten so no pancakes for me. I didn't want to go back out to the store, because of the crazy Thanksgiving shoppers denuding the shelves in frenetic fashion, so I decided to concoct an impromptu soup of French lentils and whatever veggies were in the refrigerator. The soup turned out amazingly well with no particular recipe...just a dash of this and that. I want to share it with you because it was so easy and so deliciously nourishing.

Here it is:

Ingredients:

2 Cups French lentils (cleaned)

1 Leek

1 Carrot

2 Turnips

3 Cloves garlic

Fresh cilantro

Cumin

Turmeric

Chipotle pepper

Cinnamon

Sea salt

A sip of red wine (both for you and the soup)

Can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes (or whatever you have)

Vegetable broth (I have some in a box)

Rice cheese (or any cheese you have lying around)

Olive oil

Greens

Directions:

Gently saute sliced carrot, leek, chopped turnips with garlic in some olive oil

Add a good bit of fresh cilantro

Add spices with a generous hand...no amounts here...but be sure to be generous!!

After a few minutes, add lentils and stir it up

Add an appropriate amount of veggies broth or water to make a soup...remember that lentils expand so be sure to account for this

Add more seasoning (I added more cumin, pepper and salt) and wine...

Cover the pot

Cook until done and yummy and let sit for a little while

Saute some greens

Add soup to your bowl, add some grated cheese and some greens and that is it!