Add a splash of red to meals with this winter produce

During this special week, it was fun to find several items in the local markets with wonderful red hearts to share with you. Even though the special day was yesterday, I consider the entire month of February a month for ideas of the heart, romance and everything red and pink.

Blood oranges

Among all the many citrus fruits that are coming to market right now, the blood orange is one of the unusual ones. Generally it is orange on the outside, but sometimes goes to orange with blushes of red on the skin. When you cut into it, the flesh is dark blood red in color.

The taste is slightly different from a traditional orange, having a bit of a raspberry finish after the orange-forward taste. Look for fruit that is heavy for its size, and be sure to peel them and check for seeds before putting them into items that are cooked or served in a dish.

The season can last from December through March, or even reach into June depending on the weather and source of the fruit. Store them in the refrigerator after you buy them.

Some ideas for serving include making a sauté of chicken breast with blood oranges, making a blood orange tart with a cookie crust and almond filling topped with the beautiful garnet fruit slices, or making a salad with the seasons wonderful chicories, avocado, and a neutral lettuce, all of which puts things in great harmony.

Of course the juice is delicious and such a vibrant color, it makes an unusual and beautiful mimosa or other drink. For recipes, email me and I would be pleased to share with you.

Watermelon radishes

Milder than a traditional red radish, these grow to quite a large size. Right now I found that they are on the smaller size in the local farmers market, and I quite prefer them that way. They range in size from smaller than a golf ball to as large as softball in size. Fairly unremarkable in the market because of their creamy white to pale green color, the lovely part of this vegetable remains hidden inside until you cut into it. Therefore preparations that show it off cut in some way or another are the preferred method.

A relative of the Chinese daikon radish, they pair well with fennel, apple, cheeses like feta and chevre, citrus, cilantro, mint and tarragon. They are lovely pickled, cut into wedges and stir-fried in butter, and are a natural with seafood and sushi.

Using them as a garnish provides a bright pop of magenta color in the middle of the pale edges, and not only are they beautiful, but they are tasty as well, with a flavor reminiscent of green almonds along with the tiniest bit of radish bite.

The greens are edible as well, and you can add them to a salad, or stir-fry those by themselves or with the radishes.

If you like tartines or bruschetta, you can try making one with a miso-tahini spread, fresh whole-milk ricotta, or mashed avocado, topping it with chopped watermelon radish, sesame seeds and some sea salt.

Watermelon radishes will keep in your vegetable crisper for about a week, or possibly longer depending on where you get them. The green tops are more perishable, and as with all greens, be sure to wash and dry them as soon as you bring them home, as dirt is the enemy here, and the sooner you remove it, the less likely it will deteriorate your greens. I always wash my organic or garden produce in a bath of salted water, as that kills any critters that are along for the ride. Drain them well. Store the cleaned greens separately from the radishes.

Chioggia beets

Another vegetable with an interesting secret hiding inside is the Chioggia beet, an Italian heirloom variety embraced by our local farmers. These beets have concentric circles of white and pinkish-red flesh inside. To preserve the beautiful color, buy baby beets, and slice them thinly, or spiralize them to serve them raw.

If you are after the best flavor, roast or steam them in the skin, and after they are cool enough to handle, slip the skins off of them and proceed with your recipe.

These beets marry well with flavors like those found in gorgonzola, pecorino Romano, or chevre cheeses, apples, fennel, shallots, potatoes, walnuts, smoked and cured fish, and citrus.

The beet greens are very tasty cooked, but as with the caution regarding the radish greens in the preceding section, treat the beet greens the same way.

Some other ideas for using these beets are to roast them in coconut oil, pickle them, make a shredded raw salad with beets and apples, present them as “Carpaccio” dressed with shavings of good imported Parmesan, some local extra-virgin olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and chopped flat leaf parsley, as well as a few capers. Again, if you need recipes, be sure to email me.

(Contact Juli Lederhaus at julilederhaus@gmail.com.)