Olive oil cornmeal cake with blood orange and honey
A bit more olive oil can also be drizzled over the top - definitely won't hurt!
We recently returned from our honeymoon in Peru, where we picked up some palta (avocado) honey at the peak of summer to the other side of the equator where it is currently a different kind of seasonal peak - the height of the winter doldrums. Fortunately, grey winter days are not without their culinary delights, one of them being amazing citrus. Given our recent honey purchase, the cold weather begging me to "get my baking on", and beautiful blood oranges that fold so lovely into an olive oil cake, this combination was calling my name. The palta honey has very unique dark, earthy quality to it, but any honey that you enjoy will do for drizzling.
The recipe is adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe in a few ways including to incorporate cornmeal and deconstruct the compote - blood orange slices are so gorgeous it's a shame to chop them up for this application and we wanted the honey to shine on it's own. Makes one 9x5-inch loaf pan or four, 5x2.5-inch loaf pans. I happen to have four of these small loaf pans and am always looking for excuses to use them because they are pretty darn cute and more surface area = more crispy bits = delicious.
Butter for greasing pan
5 blood oranges
1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar
About 1/2 cup (118 ml) plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons cup medium grind cornmeal
1-1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Honey, for drizzling
Crème fraîche for serving (optional, but perfect - just do it)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan or four 5x2.5-inch loaf pans. 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.
Supreme an orange - aka "segment citrus like a boss" (I created that instructional post and just found out through this recipe that this technique is called "supreming"!). Break up segments with your fingers into about 1/4-inch sized chunks.
Halve 2 oranges and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; you’ll will have about 1/4 cup. 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 and olive oil.
In another bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes (9x5-inch loaf pan) or 25-30 minutes (5x2.5-inch loaf pans), or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in loaf pan(s). While cake is cooling, supreme 2 more oranges and keep refrigerated until served.
Slice cake and serve with crème fraîche, blood orange slices, and a drizzle of honey. You can also drizzle some more olive oil over the top if you're feeling wild. Keeps for 3-4 days.
fennel, bulgur, & chicken salad with blood orange
A bright future for leftovers.
One of the most satisfying things to do in the kitchen is to reinvent leftovers and salads are a great way to do this as they allow for the addition of all kinds of bits and pieces. This recipe calls for chicken breast and provides cooking instructions, but there's no reason you couldn't chop up some leftover roast chicken, now is there? Along the same vein - no grapefruit? No problem - try oranges or even apples! Out of bulgur, but have some quinoa? Sounds great! Really - the possibilities are endless, but I really do enjoy this combination of the sweetly herbal, crunchy fennel and the juicy, rich blood orange paired with chicken and bulgur. Fantastic for lunches or picnics. Serves 4 as a main.
1 cup dry bulgur
Two 6-ounce boneless chicken breasts (preferably skinless)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, divided
1/8 teaspoon sea salt, divided
3 medium blood oranges
Juice from 1 lemon
1 large fennel bulb, with fronds (try wild fennel stalks and fronds!)
1/4 cup diced fresh green onion
Salad greens (optional)
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
In a saucepan, combine bulgur with 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, coat the chicken breasts with 1/2 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and sprinkle with about half of the salt. Lay the chicken on a baking sheet and bake on the top oven rack for 15 minutes or until cooked through - flip the chicken halfway through cooking time. Allow to cool and then slice into 1/4-inch thick strips.
Cut oranges in half. Squeeze the juice from one of the halves into a small bowl or jar. Add the remaining grapeseed oil, salt, tablespoon of olive oil, and lemon juice to the blood orange juice. Whisk or cover jar and shake until thoroughly combined.
With a knife, remove the peel and outside pith of the remaining 5 orange halves. Slice into wedges. It's helpful to know how to segment citrus like a boss.
Remove the fronds from the fennel bulb and thinly slice the bulb. Chop several of the fronds, enough to fill 1/2 cup.
Toss bulgur with dressing, chicken, orange wedges, fennel bulb, fennel fronds, and green onion. Serve at room temperature or cold atop salad greens (if desired).
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
In a saucepan, combine bulgur with 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, coat the chicken breasts with 1/2 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and sprinkle with about half of the salt. Lay the chicken on a baking sheet and bake on the top oven rack for 15 minutes or until cooked through - flip the chicken halfway through cooking time. Allow to cool and then slice into 1/4-inch thick strips.
Cut oranges in half. Squeeze the juice from one of the halves into a small bowl or jar. Add the remaining grapeseed oil, salt, tablespoon of olive oil, and lemon juice to the blood orange juice. Whisk or cover jar and shake until thoroughly combined.
With a knife, remove the peel and outside pith of the remaining 5 orange halves. Slice into wedges. It's helpful to know how to segment citrus like a boss.
Remove the fronds from the fennel bulb and thinly slice the bulb. Chop several of the fronds, enough to fill 1/2 cup.
Toss bulgur with dressing, chicken, orange wedges, fennel bulb, fennel fronds, and green onion. Serve at room temperature or cold atop salad greens (if desired).
Segment Citrus "Like a Boss"
A mature approach to citrus in salads.
Update: I just found out when I made an olive oil cornmeal cake with blood orange that this technique has a name - supreming. Who knew!
A good salad in a restaurant will have something that's lacking in a salad made at home. This something is love - enough love for a salad that you'll put in a little effort. Now, I'm not naming any names, but I'm sure we've all been there - salad as an afterthought. Of course, there's always room for a simple green salad with any meal, but sometimes you want to "get a little fancy".
One trick for doing so that I picked up while working at restaurants is segmenting citrus like a boss. By using this simple technique, your citrus segments reveal only flesh, rather than the surrounding pith and are colorful, shiny, and juicy. Here's what you do:
Cut peel off of citrus fruit.
Cut away the peel from the citrus fruit by slicing off each end and cutting down the edge of the fruit to reveal the flesh.
Cut out segments from pith around edge of the fruit.
As you get toward the end, it can be difficult to segment them perfectly, but don't worry, you can slice through the pith at this point. I also like to squeeze the juice from the edges and remaining pith into the salad dressing.
Cut into flesh to remove segments.
Removing beautiful segment.