Blood Orange Sonata

There's a dangerous stall at the little French Market down the street. Sonoma Farm carries the most beautiful selection of infused olive oils, and I simply cannot resist them. And when I get on a kick, I really get on a kick.

For the past couple of weeks I had been eyeing the Cuisine Perel fruit-flavored vinegars that suddenly appeared on the top shelf of the oil and vinegar section at Treasure Island. What first caught my eye was the beautiful shape of the bottles, and then I noticed it was flavored vinegars. And while they all intrigued me, the one that stood out the most was the blood orange vinegar (anyone who knows me surprised out there?). I was able to resist the urge to grab it and buy it right then and there the first time I saw it, but I have to tell you I had to fight pretty hard.

So a couple of weeks later Bob and I decide to stop by the market after our post-walk brunch to see what's there. They don't have a lot of fruit and vegetables there, just two stands. Everything else is arts, crafts, flowers, baked goods, and food products, including the Sonoma oils. Those clever people put out bowls to sample, and once I tasted the flavored oils, I knew I was in trouble. I actually bought the lime-infused oil first (which is delicious with corn, but we knew it would be, didn't we?), and then went back the next week for the blood orange oil.

And once I had the blood orange olive oil, it only made sense for me to hurry on down to Treasure Island to pick up that blood orange vinegar as well, right? And the two together made the most lovely vinaigrette. I followed my usual recipe, substituting the blood orange vinegar for the red wine vinegar, and adding 1/3 cup of the blood orange olive oil after whisking together the canola oil and the regular olive oil.

Mmmmmmmmm.