Citrus-Berry Terrine with Red Grapefruit

This citrus-berry and red grapefruit terrine is an easy and beautiful way to say goodbye to the winter and welcome the spring. This is sophisticated jello packed with berries and citrus. Perfect for a sunny day like today!

Serves: 4-6


Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice 
• 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup honey
• 4 cups mixed ripe berries (small berries make slicing the terrine easier)
• 1 red grapefruit
• candied lemon zest for a garnish

Directions:

Pour the water into a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it and let soften for 5 minutes.

Heat the honey with fresh squeezed orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until honey is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the gelatin mixture, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. Set aside, let it cool.



Cut a thick slice off the top and bottom of the grapefruit. Stand the grapefruit upright and, following the contour of the fruit, carefully slice downward to remove the peel, pith and membrane. Holding the grapefruit over a bowl, cut along each section of the membrane, letting each freed section drop into the bowl. Mix with berries.



Place berries and grapefruit in a 4-by-8-inch loaf pan; pour juice mixture over, pressing berries gently to submerge completely. Refrigerate until firm, at least 4-5 hours.

To unmold the terrine, dip bottom of pan in hot water about 5 seconds. Invert onto a serving platter, and shake firmly to release. Slice to serve. Serve with whipped cream and garnish with candied lemon zest.



Happy Spring, My Dear Friends!

Purple Deviled Eggs

Brunch (breakfast and lunch combined) is American in origin, and the English have adopted it because it fits in well with the modern way of life without upsetting their traditional eating habits too much. Morning tea, breakfast, luncheon, tea and dinner cut up the day too much. Brunch is a good idea for a quick synthesis of two main meals.

Brunch is an ideal Sunday formula for those who like to lie abed, or for week-ends and holidays in the country. It can be served like breakfast from ten onwards and enables the hostess to receive a number of friends almost without effort. As it can nearly all be prepared the day before, the hostess is free of too much preparation in the kitchen and, being substantial, it allows guest time to enjoy their day in the sun, by the sea or in the country, without returning for lunch. Here is a perfect brunch dish - Purple Deviled Eggs. Perhaps for the Easter? -))



Ingredients:

• 6 peeled, hard-boiled eggs
• the juice from a jar of picked beets (store-bought or homemade)
• 1/4 cup of mayo (I like homemade mayonnaise and it's easy to make)
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• paprika to taste
• cilantro, minced

Directions:

Soak hard-boiled eggs in beet juice for 30 mints (if you like your eggs be perplex a lot, leave it for a few hours or overnight). Remove and drain, then slice the eggs in half and gently remove yolks. Combine yolks in a bowl with mayo, mustard, minced cilantro, season with salt and pepper. Then stir until mixture is smooth.



Scoop the mixture into the plastic bag, then snip off a bottom corner and pipe the spiced yolks into the whites.



Sprinkle the eggs with paprika and garnish with cilantro or slice of beet.

Roasted Lamb in Herbs and Pomegranate Marinade

This wonderful recipe comes from my dear friend's Carina-Forum



THYME Symbol of Activity from The Spice Cookbook, 1964
Among the attractive accomplishments of proper young ladies of the past was a knowledge of the language of flowers. From the book devoted to the lore, which appeared in 1836, they learned that thyme "is a symbol of activity".
"Beetles of all hues, light butterflies, and vigilant bees, for ever surround the flowery tufts of Thyme,"the author noted. "It may be that to these cheerful inhabitants of the air, whose life is a a long spring, these little tufts appear like an immense tree, old as the earth and covered with eternal verdure, begemmed with myriads of flowery vases, filled honey for their express enjoyment," the author continued.
It is true that bees have never able to resist the fragrance of thyme.The ancient Greeks relished the honey made by the bees buzzing over Mount Hymettus, near Athens, where thyme grew abundantly. So highly esteemed was the delicate fragrance of thyme that "to smell of thyme" was one of the most desirable compliments one Athenian could offer another.
Ladies of the Middle Ages also observed the attraction thyme held for bees. A favorite design that a lady embroidered on the scarf of her knight-errant was composed of a bee hovering over a spring of thyme-which mingled the sweet and amiable with high courage and martial action. To enhance their own charms these ladies included thyme springs in the "tussie-mussies" they fashioned. A tussie-mussie was a demure bouquet of very fragrant flowers and sweet-scented leaves. It was always held tightly by a lady so that the warmth of her hand could release the scent of the lovely bouquet.

ROSEMARY For Remembrance from The Spice Cookbook, 1964

The small flower that is part of rosemary - an evergreen of the mint family - once was white. Legend recounts that one night the Virgin Mary - fleeing with the Christ Child from Herod's soldiers - hung her sky-blue cloak on the rosemary bush. From that day on the color of rosemary blossoms was transformed to blue.

The mention of rosemary will call to mind an ancient symbol of remembrance and fidelity. Shakespeare made this sentiment famous in Hamlet, when the tragic Ophelia speaks the immortal line: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."

One seventeenth-century preacher urged at a wedding: "Let this Rosemarinus, this flower of men, ensigne of your wisdom, love and loyaltie, be carried not only in your hands, but in your heads and hearts." It was the custom then for bridesmaids to present the bridegroom with "a bunch of Rosemary, bound with ribands" on the morning of the wedding.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 leg of lamb sirloin, 3-4 lb.
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 250 ml pomegranate juice, natural and unsweetened
• 8 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/3 cup very finely chopped shallots
• 2 Tbs. fresh thyme leaves or 8 thyme sprigs, each 6 inches long
• 4 Tbs. finely minced fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbs. ground coriander
• 2 Tbs. peppercorns, bruised
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Combine the minced rosemary, fresh thyme, ground coriander, garlic, finely chopped shallots, peppercorns, salt and olive oil to make a paste. Rub over all of the surfaces of the meat.



Place the meat in a shallow glass dish and add pomegranate juice to cover.



Marinate for 24 hours in the refrigerator, turning once. Bring the meat to room temperature before roasting.



Directions:
Preheat an oven to 375°F.
Put the lamb into a large roasting pan and drizzle the lamb with the olive oil. Cook for 25 minutes per pound for medium plus an extra 25 minutes for well-done, spooning the meat juices over the lamb once or twice during cooking.
Transfer the lamb to a carving board or platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
To serve, cut the lamb across the grain into thin slices and arrange on a warmed platter. Serve immediately, spooning some of the accumulated juices over each portion.