Spinich Salad

I was reluctant to bring a salad to Thanksgiving.  Who has room for salad on Thanksgiving?  Why would you have salad when there's stuffing?  But I love Babs and will do whatever she says.  I made this from what I had in my fridge mostly from our local farmers.

1. Wash a bunch of Steve's amazing spinach

2. Mash up some garlic with some salt.  Add some of Alice's Ojai White Balsamic Vinegar.  Add some chopped green peppercorns and chopped mint from Steve and chopped parsley from BD.

3. Thinly slice at least 2 bulbs of fennel and a bunch of B.D.'s tiny scallion chive onions.  Mix and squeeze a meyer lemon from Friend's Ranch over them.

4. Toast pine nuts.

5.  When ready to serve, toss spinach with fennel mixture and dressing.  Crumble Feta on top. Heat olive oil in small pan on stove.  When hot, pour over salad to wilt.  Toss quickly.  Sprinkle in Pine nuts and add 3 cubed avocados.  Gently toss.  Salt to taste and serve.

Grilled Corn Mexican Street Style

This was THE HIT of all the food.  So easy and fun to eat.  As Geordie said, "like an adult ice cream cone."

1. Prepare Corn by pulling back the husks and tying them to create a "handle".  Remove the stringy things.

2. Prep and prepare grill as you do.

3. Lightly Grill Corn.

4. Remove from grill and lightly spread a little mayonnaise on each.  Sprinkle with chili powder.  Grate feta cheese on top and squeeze a little lime.  

Baked Feta with Lavender

B.D. picked us the most beautiful soft tender lavender. Uschi had the idea to use it on the baked Feta. Uschi was in charge of this dish and I think this is what she did, but she will have to double check to make sure I got it right.

1. Mince up the lavender and pour olive oil over it. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a small baking tin, put 2 bricks of Feta. Pour olive oil over them. Cover with foil and put in oven. After about 30 minutes check on the Feta.

4. Pour some good balsamic vinegar on top and allow to bake another 15 minutes.

Roasted Golden and Red Beets with Feta, Olives and Arugula

We cooked way too many beets. They were so beautiful, we just had to use them all. If I did it again, I would estimate no more than a medium beet a person.

1. Oven at 400 degrees.
2. Cut off stems and scrub beets.
3. You will want to roast Golden and Red beets on two separate baking sheets. Put tinfoil down on bottom unless you love to scrub pans.
4. Roast until you can easily stick a fork into the beet. The time ranges depending on the size. Most of them were done in 45 minutes, the bigger ones took an hour. I did this first thing in the morning.

5. Once cool, Alana used a knife to cut away the skin. You can also peel them, but I like the look of the smooth cut beet skin. Again, keep the golden and red beets separate as you do this.
6. Cut them in half and then slice into "sun ray wedges".
7. Store in Fridge until ready to use.

8. Wash Arugula.
9. I recommend buying pitted olives and using them whole. We could only find ones with pits the other day and Alana had to carve them. (A huge pain).
10. Make a light dressing of minced shallots, lemon and Ojai Olive oil.
11. Cut Feta into small slices

Again, you could assemble this many different ways. If it was a small dinner party, I would probably compose individual salad plates. I started the platter and Uschi came in and fixed it aesthetically.

When ready to assemble, toss the arugula with the dressing. On a large platter spread out the arugula. Arrange the beets and Feta as you like. Scatter with the Olives.

I meant to make a balsamic vinegar dressing to pour over the arrangement. I forgot, but no one seemed to notice.