Welcome to the weekend!
In England we called mimosa’s “Buck’s Fizz”. It’s true, we do (here’s why). Also: I got a little blood orange crazy.
No recipe here but I am giving you license to do as I did last weekend: juice two blood oranges. Half-fill your glass with Prosecco or some other dry champagne. Pour blood orange juice to the top and add an orange slice for frills. Bottoms up!
The best thing happened this week. March arrived. March is one of my favourite months of the year for two main reasons:
1) It’s my birthday month.
2) Spring is on its way!
Except that you could have fooled Minnesota. We’ve had temperatures below zero this week as well as temperatures in the 30s with snow. Please, get it together universe.
If it’s still feeling like winter where you are then I have a gift for you. That gift is five of my very favourite recipes for late winter. Enjoy!
1. Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
You know you want one. Yes, Starbucks makes a dang good one but you might get head spins and an overwhelming desire to eat five pizzas if you consume the sugar in one Starbuck’s latte. This one? Not exactly unhealthy on top of being pretty dang yum.
2. Caldo Verde
There’s not much more comforting than this simple, but elegant soup. Yes, I just called a soup elegant. And peasant soup at that! I’m such a rule breaker. This soup doesn’t need much to taste out of this world. It’s quick and easy too!
Mmmm….sausages. This is another way of making bangers and mash, that British pub classic and it’s one of my favourites. I like to mix the potato and gravy up with the peas and make one big tasty mush. But that’s because I am a six-year-old at heart.
I can’t tell you enough good things about this soup. It surprised me so much when I first made it with it’s amazing flavour combination of mint and cumin seeds. It’s a complete delight – make it for friends this weekend if you’re looking for something a little bit different.
Definitely a favourite throw-it-together-and-leave-it dish. It’s got heat, it’s packed full of veggies, it’s got beans to keep you full. Pretty much an all-rounder. Make a big batch this weekend to last you through the final days (or weeks (not complaining, promise)) of winter.
P.S. I also unwittingly published my 200th blog post on Wednesday! I’ll be celebrating with some of these. Have a great weekend!
I can’t remember a post that I’ve had more fun with than this one. Photographing these blood oranges gave me more pleasure than I should probably admit to. Talk about naturally photogenic. Blood oranges often look like normal oranges on the outside but just wait til you cut into them – the inside colour ranges from a pinky-red blush to a dark, almost black amber.
Oh and the cake? You want to know about the cake? Well, it’s bright and tart and tastes like bursts of summertime in every bite. It’s not overly sweet and it has this tang that sort of lingers on your tongue. It’s also impossibly fluffy and light. I’m pretty sure you should make some as soon as possible.
The recipe is from that American institution, The New York Times. Their food section is so good, isn’t it? I’m always so impressed with their recipes and how they turn out. Yay NYT.
On another note: winter citrus is genius. Right when you’re feeling the absolute worst about how it’s still miles from being spring time and it’s all cold and gross outside (if Minneapolis could stop doing the cold – bit warm/melty – freezing cold/icy thing it would be lovely) winter citrus fruits come into season, ready to cheer you up.
Since I had such fun taking pictures making this recipe, I thought I’d share step-by-step instructions on how it’s done. Also, I don’t know about you but when I see a direction to “supreme an orange” I go a bit cross-eyed, but don’t worry all is revealed in my step-by-step. Enjoy!
Start off by grating orange zest into a bowl with sugar. Rub the ingredients together with your fingers until the orange zest is evenly distributed in the sugar and it looks like this:
Next, supreme an orange (which is just a fancy and efficient way of peeling it) by cutting off the bottom and top of the orange so the fruit is exposed and the orange can stand upright on a cutting board:
Cut away the peel and white pith, following curve of the fruit with your knife:
Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes. Then repeat these steps with another orange.
Break up the segments with your fingers into about 1/4-inch pieces and whack them in a bowl:
Halve another orange and squeeze its juice into a measuring cup:
Add buttermilk or yoghurt to the juice until you have 2/3 cup of liquid and pour the mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well:
Grab three large eggs and whisk ’em in…
…until your mixture looks something like this – beautiful, right? –
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk your dry ingredients into wet ones:
Now it’s olive oil time a.k.a. my favourite time. Fold in the oil a little at a time. It’ll feel like a whole lotta olive oil. That’s because it is. You’ll get over it:
Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pretty:
And finally scrape the batter into a pan and smooth the top and… wait for magic to happen. Et voila! You made a beautiful cake:
Now, eat.
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
from The New York Times
Ingredients
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar.
2. Supreme an orange: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and orange can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another orange. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.
3. Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup. You will have about 1/4 cup or so. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs.
4. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into wet ones. Switch to a spatula and fold in oil a little at a time. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Scrape batter into pan and smooth top.
5. Bake cake for about 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings.
