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Serve season's oranges dressed for dinner -- or breakfast

Blood oranges and navels with a lavender-lemon syrup

Blood oranges deliver the eye-catching color in this plate of seasonal citrus. The lavender-lemon syrup, at upper right, is pretty, too.

Blood oranges deliver the eye-catching color in this plate of seasonal citrus. The lavender-lemon syrup, at upper right, is pretty, too. Kathy Morrison

You can't go wrong with citrus this time of year. This simple dish can serve as a salad, a dessert after a heavy meal, or a starter at brunch.

Use any combination of oranges you like, but do include at least 1 blood orange for that marvelous color.

Lavender and lemon lightly enhance the orange plate in a simple syrup,  which isn't thick, more like a dressing. Letting it soak into the oranges for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator boosts the flavors, but that's not mandatory.

I was lucky enough to have a few fresh lavender blossoms off a plant, but if you don't, a bit of dried culinary lavender will work for this, too. 

Oranges with lavender-lemon syrup

Ingredients:

1 generous teaspoon fresh lavender flowers, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1/2 cup water

Juice from 1 tart lemon

Juice from 1 Meyer lemon or ripe lime

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup or light-flavored honey

3 small navel oranges, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices

3 blood oranges, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices

Instructions:

oranges-onplate-black.jpg
Using Cara Cara oranges if you have them
  would add a bit of pink with the
oranges and blood oranges.

You can peel the oranges with your hands, but I like the clear un-pithy edge from using a serrated knife to cut off outer peel. Spread the slices out on a serving plate in a pleasing design.

To make the syrup, stir together in a small pot the juices, water, lavender flowers, sugar and 1 teaspoon agave or honey.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer and cook until lightly syrupy, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool enough to taste it, and add another 1 teaspoon agave or honey if desired. 

Strain the syrup through a strainer into a small pitcher or measuring cup. Drizzle the syrup over the oranges and serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Save the extra syrup for another day's salad, or use as a mixer with beverages.

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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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