Food Spotlight: Clementines

‘Tis the season for those sweet easy-to-peel oranges called clementines.

This little orange stuffs a lot of goodness into a tiny package. One clementine is only 35 calories, plus you get 5% of your daily fiber, 60% of your daily vitamin C and it’s a good source of niacin, thiamin, folic acid and potassium.

My issue with the fruit is the quantity it's sold in. Why are they only sold by the truckload? You can’t just buy four. No, you have to buy a crate-full.

So of course, that’s what I bought. And now I’ve got clementines out the ying-yang. I offer them to every guest that stops by, to the mailman and garbage collector. And I’m considering making them into a citrus-themed wreath.

I love them, really I do, but other than enjoying them as a convenient snack what do you do with them?

Sunday night, out of desperation, I searched the internet for clementine recipes.

Here’s what I made: Spinach salad with clementine-vinaigrette and fish tacos with clementine salsa. It was delicious!

Maybe I can hold off on building that wreath after all.

Here are the recipes for those two dishes. Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Clementine Vinaigrette (modified from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook)

1/3 cup walnut halves

1 pound flat-leaf spinach

1 teaspoon grated clementine zest (about 2 clementines)

2 tablespoons clementine juice (about 3 clementines)

1 teaspoon finely minced shallot

pinch of salt

pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons walnut oil (you can find this at Kroger and it makes this dressing fabulous)

1. Toast the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Combine the zest, juice, shallot, salt, pepper, and walnut oil in a bowl and whisk until smooth.

3. Place the spinach and walnuts in a serving dish. Drizzle the dressing over the spinach and walnuts and toss gently. Serve immediately.

Fish Tacos with Clementine Salsa

For the salsa:

3 clementines, peeled and segments chopped into small pieces

½ roasted red pepper, chopped (Buy a jar of peppers. You don’t have to roast your own)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

Juice from ½ a lime

½ teaspoon cumin

1. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. (Can be made ahead of time and left on the counter for flavors to blend.)

Note: This takes a while to prepare. Not because it’s a difficult recipe, but because it takes some time to peel and chop the clementines.

For the fish:

4 cod fillets (you can use tilapia, mahi mahi or any other white fish you enjoy)

Zest from one lime

Montreal steak seasoning

Olive oil

1. Place the fish on a baking sheet.

2. Drizzle each piece of fish with some olive oil, lime zest, and Montreal seasoning

3. Broil for 8 minutes, or until fish flakes easily

To serve:

Extreme Wellness Tortillas (in Mexican aisle at Kroger)

Sour cream

Baked Fish

Clementine Salsa

1. Fill each tortilla with ¼ to ½ a fish fillet, some clementine salsa and a dollop of sour cream.