Tag Archives: blood oranges

Winter Red and Green Salad

Unless you’re a close family member, it may surprise you to learn that I eat the same salad for lunch everyday. Arugula, thinly sliced romaine and radicchio, tossed with my home-made sherry and honey vinaigrette. I will toss in a bit of protein, either chickpeas, turkey, chicken, tuna or egg. A small handful of my house croutons is non-negotiable. It is always eaten, standing over the sink, from the stainless steel mixing bowl I tossed it in. Somehow it tastes better that way.

I created this salad as a way of forcing myself out of my rut. I wanted lots of vibrant colour on my plate, and I challenged myself to see if I could do it without any lettuce. In my mind I envisioned a red and green colour palate. The red was easy. Pomegranates added a sweet pop of texture and colour and blood oranges added the vibrancy I was craving.

For the green, I settled on green beans, sugar snap peas and frozen green peas. I made sure to refresh the green beans and sugar snaps in ice water after boiling, to preserve their verdant shade.

For the dressing, I started with mixing the juice of the blood oranges with some olive oil, but found that the oranges were missing the acidic punch I needed. A bit of red wine vinegar fixed that issue. Extra crunch in the form of toasted hazelnuts was a welcome textural addition.

Break out of your salad rut with this winter red and green salad. You’ll thank me.

Blood Orange Meringue Pie and “Helpful” Husbands

It has been almost 9 months since the Pandemic threw us into lockdown on March 14. I suppose I could have gestated a baby in that time. Instead, I put my energy into learning how to co-exist with my husband while he switched gears from working in an office to working at home. It was a bit of transition.

He is an intelligent man and learned, after 4 days, to stop asking “What’s for lunch?” We eventually settled into a routine and he spends most of the day, locked up in his office working. I spend my days in the kitchen, cooking, shooting and writing. He emerges every now and again to make coffee or open a can of sardines and baked beans for lunch. One of the nicest things about having him home with me is that when he does appear for a break, if the counter is strewn with dirty bowls and dishes, as it often is on shoot days, he happily washes them all.

A few weeks ago I was putting the finishing touches on my blood orange meringue pie. I was walking across the kitchen to put the pie on my setup by the window to start taking photos. My husband was at the sink. Unfortunately, he had the dishwasher door open as he was loading the dirty dishes. I did not see the open door. I tripped on it, and the pie and I went flying. It was very sad. I quietly left the kitchen to tend to my wounds and left him to clean up the pie. He asked if the 5 second rule applied. I did not answer him.

Luckily, the only thing broken was the pie. I had a nasty bruise on my thigh and a sore knee for a few days, but was otherwise unharmed. I quickly got to work on pie #2.

The pie crust needs to be baked without the filling. Dock it well (poke holes with a fork) and line the pie shell with parchment paper and some dried beans to act as weights so the dough does not puff up.

Once the pie is baked, start in on the filling. I love working with blood oranges because slicing into one is always a surprise. You never know what shade of orange/red will be revealed. This year, I seemed to have happened on a particularly bloody batch. Every single one was deep red on the inside.

While the pie crust is cooling, get to work on the filling. Lots of eggs, butter, blood orange juice, zest and some cornstarch for thickening. Strain the hot filling into the cooled crust. Chill for at least 6-8 hours.

For the meringue topping, I recommended a Swiss meringue as opposed to an simple French meringue. It is more stable. For a Swiss meringue, you heat the egg whites and sugar over a bowl of simmering water until they reach a temperature of 150°F. Then you whip the whites and sugar until stiff peaks form. In a French meringue, the egg whites and sugar are not heated first.

I decided to pipe the meringue onto the pie because I wanted to have some of the pretty blood orange showing.

Blood Orange and Gin Cocktail

I think we need to celebrate the fact that that we made it through January. Winter has never been my favourite season. I have tried to embrace the season by getting outdoors, cross country skiing and ice skating on the world’s longest skating rink, but, as my husband and I like to remind each other, “Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.” Wise advice for many life situations.

One of the few things that I do love about winter is blood oranges. They taste similar to navel oranges, with a slightly more floral, almost, raspberry flavour. They’re not quite as sweet as a navel orange and they have a slight hint of bitterness, which is part of their unique allure.

My favourite thing about blood oranges is the surprise element. You never know what you’re going to get when you slice one open. Sometimes they’re mostly orange, lightly veined with some ruby colouration, other times they’re vermillion and once in a while a vivid crimson is revealed. Blood oranges are one of the few good surprises left in life anymore.

I love the fact that, in this age of instant gratification, when we can get anything we want, at any time, blood oranges are only available for a few short months each year. What gives the flesh their unique hue is the presence of anthocyanins which is an antioxidant pigment. This pigment only develops if the fruit develops with low temperatures during the night. The pigment continues to develop after harvest if they are kept in cold storage.

I love baking with them. Their vibrant colour makes a beautiful glaze for bundt cake, a vibrant curd for a meringue tart, and a tangy caramel to drizzle on ice cream.

This season I decided to use them in a cocktail. While I dislike drinking cocktails, (wine for me please), I love making and photographing them. I used the blood orange in two ways for this gin based cocktail. The juice was added to some gin, a splash of Aperol and topped with sparkling blood orange soda. Then I brûléed a slice to garnish the drink. This step is optional, but so much fun. It can also be done in a skillet. The directions are in the recipe.

Blood Orange Meringue Tart

One of the most beautiful ways to showcase the glorious blood orange, is to make a curd. You can use the curd to fill a pie or tart, spread it between two cookies, sandwich it between cake layers, swirl it into ice cream, stuff it into donuts or cupcakes…. you get the idea. Curd is glorious and versatile.

The juice and zest of about a dozen blood oranges are packed into this dessert. Start by reducing 2 cups of juice in half. You want the tart to pack an orange punch! The curd can chill while you make the crust. For the meringue topping I looked to Stella Parks for advice. Her swiss meringue is foolproof. It whips up into a perfectly light, yet stable topping.
You could, of course, blanket the entire top with meringue, but I didn’t want to cover all that gorgeous orange curd, so I left some spots bare.

Leave the meringue snowy white or torch it for toasted goodness.

Click here to print recipe for Blood Orange Meringue Tart.

Blood Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then I qualfy as insane. You might also say that I am a slow learner, and don’t always see the obvious clues that others spot so readily.

Last March I bought this beautiful heart shaped Bundt pan. I patiently waited 11 months to use it in a Valentines Day post. I decided to make a blood orange poppy seed cake. I used Ina’s recipe for Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Cake as my base and adapted it so that I could celebrate blood orange season.

My pan was heavily buttered and greased and I followed the directions very carefully. I baked it for 45 minutes, cooled it in the pan for exactly 10 minutes. Holding my breath, I gingerly inverted the cake to release it from the pan. Half of it stuck to the pan. I cursed, chopped the broken pieces up and froze them for future snacking and hustled off to the store for more blood oranges and cake flour. Before starting again, I did a quick google search to see what went wrong. The King Arthur website advised me that buttering and flouring was not the way to go. I followed their tips and tricks and baked the cake again, and again and again. My freezer is now full of lots and lots of broken cake for snacking. Come on over!

I finally realized that this heart shaped pan was the problem. I’m not quite sure why. Nordicware baking pans are usually so reliable. But, slow as I am, I was not about to try this pan for a 5th time. I pulled out my trusty round fluted Bundt pan.Fifth time’s the charm! After a brief 10 minute cooling period, the cake slid out like a boss! Cue the fireworks.

While the cake cools, make a blood orange simple syrup. Pour this all over the warm cake to really intensify that blood orange flavour and keep your cake super moist.Once the cake is totally cool, it gets a final drizzle of the most gorgeous pink glaze. I adored this cake. Dense, but in the best possible way, buttery and bright, slightly tangy and not too sweet. A perfect ray of sunshine on a cold February day. Celebrate Valentines Day with this luscious love letter to blood oranges.

Click here to print recipe for Blood Orange and Poppy Seed Bundt Cake.