Back when Aimee and I lived in the Bay Area (Alameda more specifically), we had a huge lemon tree in the back yard that used to produce huge Eureka lemons all the time.  I always felt a little bad because I couldn’t ever use them all – but when I could, I always used to make this lemonade, especially on the hot days in the summer.  The infusion of Mango is just one idea, but I also used to puree strawberries and add those.  You can really add just about any other fruit you like to this drink and it would still turn out delicious.

Keep it simple when you’re making lemonade.  Start with just a little bit of sugar, then you can always add more as you wish depending on your sweetness level tolerance.  Another idea here is to try making ‘ade’ with another citrus fruit.  Everyone’s likely heard of and tried Limeade, but my new thing is to make grapefruit-ade.  It’s really pretty good and a different combo that you might like.

Here’s my take on the simple, super refreshing drink:

• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2-3 mangoes – pulp pureed in a food processor (see more about preparing mangoes below)
• Ice
• 4 cups water to dilute

Putting lemonade together is totally easy.  Start by prepping the mangoes: I find the best way to prep mangoes is to cut them in half like you would an avocado.  Make sure you don’t cut into the large seed in the middle of the mango, rather cut on either side – almost like a filet.  I then take my paring knife and cut cubes out of the mango’s flesh, then invert the mango and turn the half inside out and remove the cubes that protrude.  This video does a good job documenting this:

Take the mango cubes and puree them in your food processor or juicer until you have a good puree on your hands.  Try to get it as smooth as possible, add some water as needs be – chunks in your lemonade aren’t really as ideal as you can imagine.

In a large pitcher of bowl, I mix the ice, sugar and lemon juice with a large wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the mango puree and mix in, then add the water to dilute.  Make sure you don’t add too much to start, so add a little, then adjust from there.  Serve with more lemon slices or mango.  This drink also goes really well as a cocktail with some vodka or gin.

Grapefruit is the last citrus fruit that I usually think of – it sort of gets lot in the fuzz among the stars: lemons, oranges and limes.  This is unfortunate though, as I absolutely love the flavor of grapefruit, especially when the bitter flavor is mixed with sugar and sweet ingredients.  This cake was a rather odd recipe that really stuck out in the Ad Hoc cookbook from Thomas Keller’s restaurant in Napa Valley.

Part of the draw of this cake for me was the way that you were supposed to bake the cake first, then poke holes all over it and brush it with a grapefruit syrup (a good amount too).  Doing this reminded me of a Tres Leches cake – trust me, every cake should be infused somehow with liquid – you just can’t deny the moisture it adds. I thought when I was adding the liquid that it was going to turn the cake into mush, but trust me, keep going and add all of the syrup the recipe calls for, you’ll like the results.

I topped the cake with some simple powdered frosting, packed it with grapefruit zest and served it up and it was a hit.  If grapefruit isn’t your think, try using another citrus fruit like lemon or lime.  The other benefit of this cake? It’s totally simple to create.  Here’s what to do:

Wet Ingredients:

• Zest of 1 whole grapefruit – around 2 Tbsp. diced up
• 1 cup of grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed – you’ll need around 2-3 grapefruits total here)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup + 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla paste if you can find it

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 and 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt

Grapefruit Frosting Ingredients

• 3/4 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
• 2 Tbsp. fresh grapefruit juice

Method

Again, the cake is fairly easy to produce.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Start by bringing together all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl – sift them together.

In a separate bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the 2/3 cup of sugar and eggs and mix together with the whisk attachment (or your whisk) for a few minutes until well combined.  Whisk in the milk, then the oil and finally the vanilla and grapefruit zest.  Whisk all together until well combined, then lower the speed of your mixer and add the dry ingredients in three parts, one at a time, until well incorporated.  The cake batter will be fairly wet, this is to be expected.

Lightly oil a loaf pan or other cake pan (7 cup capacity) and pour in the batter.  Cut a small length-wise slit down the cake with a paring knife before placing in the oven – this will create a nice crack in the cake once it’s done.  Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn the cake 180 so it browns evenly, then bake for another 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.

While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup and the frosting.  For the syrup, simply add the cup of granulated sugar and grapefruit juice to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Let simmer until the sugar dissolves, then kill the heat and set aside for the cake to finish.  For the frosting, simply whisk or stir together the powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp. grapefruit juice.  Add some more sugar if you aren’t happy with the consistency.

Once the cake is finished, remove it from the oven and poke holes all over the cake with a small skewer (every 1/2″ or so).  Then proceed to brush all of the syrup into the cake, you may need to let it soak in for a minute before proceeding, but make sure you put all of the syrup into the cake.  Finally, remove it from the baking dish and top with the frosting before serving.  Enjoy!

Here’s another simple salad that I absolutely love to put together, and it’s especially convenient to make now in the midst of our kitchen remodeling project. The carrots combine with sweet summer corn (perfect and in season right now!) and creamy avocado to make a great combination of flavor. Paired with some delicious creamy lemon dressing, this is the quintessential summer salad to serve along side grilled meat or fish.

I first heard of this, I must admit, through an old Barefoot Contessa episode and it’s been tweaked a bit here to include some of my favorite vegetable combinations. I did take the Contessa’s advice here and included raisins in the dish, which I think adds some really great (interesting) texture and sweetness. But one of the best parts of this dish is that you can really combine any old fresh crunchy vegetables to this salad, a bunch of lemon and dressing and it will more than likely work out on the plate. I paired it with some pre-made spinach chicken sausage, which worked really well.

The quality of the carrots really help here to, try to buy yours from a local farmer’s market or at least try your best for locally grown, organic carrots – they’re the sweetest and most delicious!!!  Have fun with this recipe and improvise, I did!  Try adding some Madras curry powder to it too, a classic combination.  It’s a totally easy and delicious recipe to do:

Serves 4-5

• 2 bunches (about 2 lb.) of carrots – orange and/or yellow – Shredded on the medium holes of a box grater
• 2 ears of fresh sweet corn – see prep below
• 1 small head of broccoli – diced small
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup of large raisins, dark or golden
• 1 large Haas avocado – roughly chopped
• 6 green onions (scallions) – cut fairly thin on a bias
• 3-4 sprigs of tarragon – diced
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Salt and pepper

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup good mayonnaise (Hellman’s preferred)
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. freshly ground cumin seed – toasted and crushed in your mortar and pestle
• Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. each of salt and fresh ground pepper

Start by chopping all of you vegetables.  Put your raisins into a small bowl and cover them with a little water while you prep the rest of your veg.  This will help them plump up a bit.  For the corn prep, slice off the corn kernels from the cob length-wise and then milk the cob.  To do this, flip your knife over to the butt-side and rub it up and down the cob.  This should produce a sort of milky, chunky liquid that you should add directly to the salad.  It’s full of awesome corn flavor!  When your vegetable prep is done, combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the lemon juice, tarragon and salt and pepper.

Next make the dressing by combining all of the ingredients listed and adjusting seasoning to taste.  You can also add some hot sauce to this if you want to add another element to the flavor of the dish.  Start dressing the vegetables with just some of your dressing and mixing to combine.  Doing the dressing a little at a time will prevent you from over-dressing the salad.  Add as much dressing as you desire, adjust seasonings and enjoy!

Did you guys ever see that Iron Chef episode where Cat Cora pulls out the Buddha’s Hand and everyone (including me) was like “WTF is that”?  I’ve been looking for one of these ever since.  Our friend Tyson brought one over to our house last Thanksgiving as I remember and used the zest in his delicious homemade cranberry sauce.

Coming home late the other night, I decided to stop at Whole Foods to grab some things to cook with.  Per usual, I started in the produce and immediately saw them, a big pile of them – the Buddha’s Hand!  Cheap too, they were like $4/Pound, so I eagerly picked one up and thought about turning it into a garnish for fish.  I’ve been wanting to try this Gremolata recipe too, so why not put them together.  The Buddha’s Hand zest made for a great substitution to the typical lemon zest.

Gremolata is a very simple Italian garnish, traditionally served with Ossobuco – though since it incorporates citrus, I thought it could also accompany a hearty fish like Swordfish (which looked very good that day I must say).  Gremolata is simply a mixture of parsley, garlic and lemon (Buddha’s hand, wink, wink) zest – though I decided to add some salt and a little olive oil just to give it some added seasoning and binding.

The first thing that I noticed about the stuff is that it’s intense on flavor!  The garlic and lemon really come through as you might expect and I sort of overused it on the fish.  Because of its strong flavors, I immediately saw why it’s served with the veal shanks in Ossobuco.  Don’t get me wrong, this worked ok, just be fairly conservative if you’re going to use your Gremolata on fish.  It would also go great on pork or steak, especially if seasoned with some hearty spices.

I served this alongside some delicious broccoli rabe with caramelized fennel and onions (recipe another day).  I really like serving the bitter greens with the sweet onions and fennel – makes for a great balance of flavors.

For the Gremolata:

• About 1/2 c. parsley
• 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (or Buddha’s hand)
• 1 clove garlic – diced
• Pinch of salt
• A few drops of good extra virgin olive oil

Simply dice the parsley and garlic together.  Zest your lemon and add it to the mixture and continue to dice on your board until it comes together.  Add the salt and olive oil and combine.

For the Swordfish:

• 4 1/2 lb. swordfish steaks or 1 large 2 lb. fillet
• Sea salt
• White Pepper
• Paprika (optional)

In advance, season the fish and let rest while you prepare the other ingredients.  I recommend grilling the fish, though if no grill is available, just sear the fish in some olive oil and butter at high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness).  You really want that high heat to get some good color and crust on the fish.

Swordfish is one of those proteins that I HATE if it’s overcooked (who likes any meat overdone?), so ere on the side of under cooking and really let it rest once you pull it off the heat.  You can always put it back on the heat if it’s too raw, but you can’t make it more raw once it’s overdone!  As long as you make sure the fish is nice and fresh, it can be a little under cooked and it’s fine to eat (it will be more tender and succulent that way)!

Top the fish with some of the Gremolata, a side of vegetables or starch and salad and enjoy!

Serves 4