1 pound yam
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Emmenthal cheese, grated
2 eggs
salt
water

1. Boil salted water in a large pot and add yams, cooking them until tender, about 45 minutes.
2. Drain the water, peel the yams and mash them in a large bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a baking sheet.
4. Heat the milk over medium heat until just below the simmering point and add to the yams, along with the butter, cheese and 1 egg.
5. Separate the other egg and whisk the yolk until light and fluffy, then fold this into the yams. Season with salt.
6. Make mounds by tablespoon with the yam mixture onto the baking sheet and then top each mound with a smaller one, about a teaspoon of the mixture.
7. Lightly beat the yolk and brush the tops of the brioches.
8. Bake until browned, about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 servings

4 six ounce salmon fillets
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon dried mint
2 tablespoons olive oil
white pepper

1. Whisk butter until fluffy and add zest and mint.
2. Gradually whisk in orange juice and then refrigerate until solidified, about half an hour.
3. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and brush salmon with olive oil and season with white pepper.
4. Cook salmon in skillet until done, about 10 minutes, flipping once.
5. Top with mint orange butter and garnish with orange slices, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup quinoa
1-1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup dried apricots
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot with the lemon zest and quinoa.
2. Cook until the quinoa turns lightly brown and you can smell the lemon.
3. Add the apricots and stir to coat, then top off with orange juice.
4. Reduce heat and simmer until quinoa has absorbed all of the liquid.

Makes 4 servings

4 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 lemon
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Add carrots and saute until slightly tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the juice of one lemon, basil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Continue cooking for another minute or two and serve hot.

Makes 4 servings

Tonight's dinner is an almost late entry for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge. Again, I'm ignoring the cookbook rule for the most part (I have half a dozen, none are neglected…) and just sticking to the theme. The idea is to make something orange. Of course, I took it a step further and prepared an entire meal of orange colored dishes, complete with a glass of orange juice and white wine.

Since there is a lot of zest in these recipes, I figured now would be a good time to mention that if you're using the zest (the peel of citrus) it's probably a good idea to wash it very well or else buy organic. Typically the peel of such fruits is not considered food so growers are free to saturate it with whatever they want without concern for human health. Of course, take this with a grain of salt, but just like any produce it's a good idea to give it a good rinsing before eating.

After brainstorming orange foods (there's a lot more than I even utilized, I never really noticed before!) I decided on using salmon (I suppose it's kind of red…), oranges (of course), apricots, orange bell peppers, yam and carrots. For the main dish Shannon and I split a salmon fillet. Mint Orange Butter Salmon was, as Shannon described, "Like eating an Orange Julius" which is quite accurate. The minted orange flavor doesn't draw away from the fact that it's a savory dish, but it's definitely got its own unique quality. I also think it's a lot of fun to make compound butter.

A friend of mine has been pestering me to try quinoa with dried fruit, so I made an Apricot Quinoa Pilaf. Unfortunately, this was the only dish that neither of us liked. I thought that the flavor of the dish was overpowering in a very bad way. I think I might actually like quinoa (this was my first time trying it) but I definitely did not like it prepared this way. This recipe might be better off served as a breakfast with yogurt in place of oatmeal or something; it definitely needs something to neutralize it a bit. I put this in an orange bell pepper cup just to add another orange element to the plate, in case it was somehow lacking.

I found a recipe for potato brioche in The Silver Spoon and adapted it with yams to make them orange. From what I know of brioche they're actually more of a pastry, so I thought this recipe was kind of strange. I accidentally forgot to add the cheese, while wondering why the "batter" seemed so soupy, but they surprisingly turned out quite well. The Yam Brioche were very much like a baked yam, except in a nicer portion with a sort of quiche-like texture.

I pruned my baby basils today and wanted to make use of the discarded parts, so I added a Basil Carrots dish. Shannon described it as "a surprise in every bite!" since we don't typically eat basil and carrots together, but it was quite pleasant. Unlike carrots at all, really. A nice, light side dish that would probably have gone really well with the apricots (or raisins) that I put in the quinoa.