Blood Orange!

While in Sicily, I discovered the pure joy of a Blood Orange Bilini for breakfast! Yep, every morning there were picture perfect pastries and bilinis on the table....what a wonderful way to start the day. No wonder I tried to get the pilot to take our return flight straight to the Betty Ford Clinic in California! I decided then that from now on my Blood Oranges would be served fresh, or at least without Champagne.
My friend, Chef Jasper Mirable of Jasper's Restaurant in Kansas City, has long been a fan of Blood Oranges, but I am a slow learner. Who knew they were so delicious! So, when I went into The Tasteful Olive in Overland Park, I was so excited to taste the Blood Orange Olive Oil! It was heavenly. Then I went to a cocktail party at my brother and sister-in-law's and by golly, Vicki served Hearts of Palm drizzled with that very same olive oil! Fabulous!

Shortly after that, I visited with Jeanne Mackay of The Tasteful Olive and we decided it was time for me to develope recipes using her olive oils and balsamic vinegars. I brought 5 different oils and 4 balsamics home with me and sat and looked at them, tasted each again, and put on my thinking cap. The thing about Jeanne's products is they are so excellent on their own it is difficult to think of possibly hiding their perfection by burying them within recipes.  But, that was my mission!

I've been baking with the Butter flavored olive oil, and it works beautifully, but truthfully, none of the recipes set me on my heels....so I moved on to Blood Orange. I am telling you, it is so good that I had to almost threaten myself with bodily harm if I didn't stop sipping it by the spoonful and actually create something with it as an ingredient! I thought I wanted to make something cold, after all, we finally can see spring! Naturally, you can make some incredible vinagrettes with Jeanne's oils, turning the most average salad into a gourmet treat, but can you imagine a Blood Orange Olive Oil Gelato?!  Yep, that is where I was headed

                                                                              

Out came the ice cream machine. Out came a few simple ingredients. 3 hours later I took a spoon and lowered it down into that cold, creamy, delicate orange, soft gelato and fell in love!

The recipe? Tell you what, give Jeanne a day or two to get it posted on her blog and then you can have it! That will give you time to get to The Tasteful Olive to pick up your very own Blood Orange Olive Oil. You can get that ice cream machine's bowl into the freezer so it will be ready when you are. Then go to http://www.thetastefulolive.com/ for the recipe.  Enjoy!