Orange Shallot Dressing and A January Bee
January Bee
It is January. My bees are supposed to be staying warm and keeping their queen cozy inside the hive. However, of late we’ve had warm temps during the day with sunny, blue skies and mild breezes. They do come out in winter to take “cleansing flights”, I’ll let you guess what that means. Here is a hint – Bees are very good housekeepers and their hives don’t have potties!
This is my first winter to be a bee keeper and my first January to observe what they do when old man winter arrives. These last warm days have brought them out of the hives and I’ve even seen evidence of foraging for pollen. Yesterday I swear I saw Drones, those are boy bees, and generally boy bees aren’t allowed to live in the hive during the cold winter months. I’m a tad curious about why I saw a few but may never know the answer. No matter, I’ve enjoyed watching my girls coming and going and buzzing about. They seem taken with the few pots of pansies I’ve set around for a little winter color. They also seem intrigued with me. I don’t know if it’s a fragrance I’m wearing or if they’re just buzzing around my head to say, “Hi”. Come February I’ll start to feed all the hives to help them expand their colonies in preparation for the honey flow. It’s been a nice respite the last few months to spend minimal time checking on them but I admit I’m getting pumped about spring, inspecting hives and watching them prepare to make me some honey! Stay tuned for more on Orange Bee bees.
While I’m on an orange kick I thought I’d tell you about this delicious Orange-Shallot Dressing I made. It is refreshing, citrusy, and light and superbly tops off those salads we’re all craving following all the rich holiday fare. It comes together in a matter of minutes and keeps refrigerated for several days. It makes serving a delicious salad quick and simple. I served it initially over a salad of spinach, mandarin oranges, ruby-red grapefruit and toasted almonds. The next time I tossed it with mixed baby greens, mushrooms, tomatoes and croutons and the time after that, leaf lettuce, dried cranberries, spicy pecans and sliced pears. It turns any salad combo into a delicious, crowd pleasing dish.
Enjoy!
Orange-Shallot Dressing
Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, peeled
2-3 pinches salt
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 small shallot, minced
2/3 cup vegetable oil
Mash together garlic and salt until it forms a paste. Add orange and lemon juices and shallot and whisk until well blended. Add the oil in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly. Keep refrigerated. Remove from refrigerator a few minutes before serving and whisk well.
Maybe it’s a silly question – but why aren’t the boy bees allowed to live in the hive? Where are they supposed to go? Poor guys 🙁
Love the look of the dressing – zingy and fresh! Perfect accompaniment to some fresh leafy mesclun! (I found my orange now too, in case you’re wondering! :D)
Charles, Thank goodness I can breathe now that you’ve found your orange! Boy bees are only good for one thing and it is not helping out in the hive. Before winter most drones are gone from the hive and if they are still hanging around they are carried off far, far away by the worker bees, as all they would do is consume honey stores in the hive and the girls need that energy because they are the “worker bees”.
Greg, no man cave no sofa no nothing but they probably do enjoy their one job in life!
Thanks for the answer Orange Bee – but I’m left wondering one thing… does that mean that the poor little guys just die off in the winter? … Or do they find a little place somewhere to “chill” until Spring?
Charles, Well, in answer to your question – the boy bees (if there are any) are carried off to die before winter which means they never performed their one job in life. If they perform their one job they die immediately following! Aren’t you glad you’re not a bee? Linda, yes bee keeping is quite fascinating and I truly enjoy it. Boy bees look different that girl bees and the queen is different than boys or girls. If you continue to read TOB I will no doubt blog about my bees and post some photos of Drones (boys). Meantime check out the Bees & Honey page at the top of my blog page and you will see photos of queens and worker (girl) bees for comparison. I love shooting photos of my bees!
Boy bees don’t even get the couch or a man cave, oh well. The dressing looks wonderful.
the dressing looks perfect. I think it would work well with the earthy tones of beetroot too, in fact I’ll have to give that a try!
Claire – let me know how that works out.
This whole bee process is so fascinating…how do you even know boy bees from girl bees?? 🙂 I’m definitely staying turned to find out how all this turns out!! In the meantime, love your dressing. I like citrus based dressings as they really do brighten up salads in both taste and appearance.
YUM! May I use your recipe at the store during our Citrus Festival? (I’ll give The Orange Bee credit)