Avocado Persimmon Salad

What a great taste combination, combining the sweetness of a ripe persimmon with the creaminess of avocado and the crunch of pistachios, just too good not to share the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 each    Ripe California Avocado, sliced
1 each       Ripe Jiro Persimmon, peeled, sliced and seeded
1/4 cup      Red Onion, sliced thin
1 T            Avocado Oil with lemon
1 tsp          Citrus Vinegar (Calamansi if available)
1 T            Pistachios, chopped
To Taste    Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper


Arrange the thin slices of persimmon intermingled with the avocado slices, scatter the red onion slices over the plate.
Drizzle the oil over entire plate, then sprinkle the vinegar
Top the salad with the chopped pistachios, season with the salt and pepper
Serve immediately! For a great bright flavor in this colder weather

"Winter" weather - means warming side dishes

Chicken Roasted Vegetables

Well the temperature has finally fallen here on the Gulf Coast to 50ish during the day, at least for a few days. Which means fall/ winter hearty cooking is happening in the Kitchen. It is time for soups, stews, braises and all those comforting dishes that signal a change of season. This has to be one of my favorite food times of year, as long as I don't have to shovel snow!

The other evening Linda cooked one of her classic roast chickens for us to enjoy with a lovely glass of Cahors Red from France.  My job was to make the sides - but I did not work to hard, so I let the chicken do the cooking. The recipe will follow - I diced up some onion, fingerling potatoes, celery root and crimini mushrooms, tossed them in olive oil with salt, pepper and thyme. Placed the entire mixture in the bottom of the roasting pan under the chicken that was on the rack above. Allowed everything to cook the full 1 hour the chicken roasted, removed the chicken. Placed the roasting pan on a medium high burner, added a 1/2 cup white wine and deglazed the pan, scrapping the good bits until the wine had almost evaporated. Transfer everything to the serving dish and "boom"one side was done, with out a lot of work. ;-)

RECIPE

1 C         Mushrooms, quartered
1/2          Medium Onion, large dice
12 ea       Fingerling potatoes, large dice
1/2 C       Celery root, large dice
1 T           Olive Oil
1/2 t         Thyme, fresh
To Taste   Kosher Salt & Blk Pepper
1/2 C        White wine

Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, toss to coat and distribute evenly.
Place mixture in an even layer in the roasting pan under the roasting rack for the chicken.
Place prepared chicken on rack, roast for 1 hour
Remove chicken and let it rest
Place the roasting pan with vegetables over a medium high burner, stir add white wine, deglaze the pan until almost all the wine is evaporated
Transfer to a serving dish