Almond and Orange Seed Cake With Berries And Greek Yogurt. ~. Vegetarian

Orange And Almond Seed Cake 

With Berries And Greek Yogurt

Add more plant varieties to your day in the most delicious way, with a slice of vegetarian cake.Ingredients:150ml / 5/8 cup olive oil, plus extra for greasing2 oranges, scrubbed, zest of 1, juice of both1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice3 medium free range eggs100g light brown sugar150g ground almonds75g polenta1 tsp baking powder2 tsp ground cinnamon25g chia seeds25g poppy seeds1 tbsp flaked almonds2 sprig/s rosemary, leaves only200g raspberries200g strawberries, hulled and halved100g blueberries, to serve2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, to serve200g Low Fat Greek Style Yogurt, to serveDirections:Preheat the oven to 170ºC, gas mark 3, then oil a 20cm loose-bottomed, deep round cake tin and line the base with baking parchment. Mix the orange and lemon juices together and set aside. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale, then gradually whisk in the oil and continue whisking for 2 minutes.
Fold in the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder, cinnamon, chia and poppy seeds and citrus zests with 3 tbsp juice until evenly combined. Pour into the prepared tin. Scatter with the flaked almonds and rosemary.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until risen, golden and a skewer emerges clean when inserted into the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then pour the remaining citrus juice over the top and leave to cool slightly. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 
Mix the fruit and vinegar together, then serve the cake in slices with the fruit and yogurt. 
Cook’s tip:  Vary the seeds – use caraway or sunflower, instead of, or as well as, poppy seeds. The cake is best left for at least 24 hours before cutting to let the flavors develop. It keeps well in a tin for up to 5 days. Try the fruit by itself, with fresh mint, as a quick and different fruit salad.

Pistachio Torte

 

Pistachio Torte

Adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere

This is a version of a recipe that has been in the repertoire of the Chez Panisse pastry kitchen for decades. It was developed in the tradition of European torten, a family of cakes based on ground nuts and containing little flour or other fat. This cake may be prepared ahead and kept at room temperature for a few hours, but it is best served the day it is made.
Ingredients
Cake

11/2 cups pistachios, shelled
1/4 cup cake flour
7 egg whites
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar, granulated
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated
1 teaspoon orange flower water
Topping

1 cup shelled pistachios
6 tablespoons apricot jam, heated and strained
1/4 teaspoon orange flower water
Pinch of salt
Citrus Compote
2 oranges
6 –7 kumquats
A few drops of orange flower water
Vanilla whipped cream, not too stiff

Directions:
For the nicest possible green color in the finished cake, blanching the pistachios, or removing their inner dark-colored seed coat, is a necessary step. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add a handful of nuts at a time. Once water returns to a boil, remove nuts with a slotted spoon and rub off seed coat. Dry nuts on a towel, then transfer to a baking sheet and toast in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes; don't let them brown. Prepare nuts for both the cake (1 1/2 cups) and the topping (1 cup) at the same time.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan; line bottom with a circle of parchment; butter the parchment and dredge with flour, tapping the pan to shake out excess.

Heat the oven to 325°F.

Using a food processor, grind 1 1/2 cups of prepared nuts with flour to a fine meal. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with half of the sugar until thick and lightened in color. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar into stiff peaks; slowly beat in remaining sugar until they hold stiff peaks again.

Drizzle egg yolk mixture into the bowl with egg whites; grate orange rind over yolk mixture; and drizzle in the orange flower water. 

Sprinkle in 1/4 of pistachio-flour mixture and partially fold everything together. Add another 1/4 of nut mixture and partially fold in; continue until all the nuts are used and the batter is just uniform. Gently scrape batter into prepared pan. 

Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove pan and cool completely on a rack.

Topping, 

Chop 1 cup of nuts carefully into about 1/8-inch chunks. Stir orange flower water and salt into the warm jam and paint the top and sides of the cooled cake. Pat chopped pistachios into the jam in an even layer.

Citrus Compote, 

Finely grate the zest of one orange into a bowl. Using a small, sharp knife, peel the oranges and release the sections from their membranes into the bowl with the zest, squeezing all juice from the membranes. 

Trim stem ends of kumquats, and slice thinly, discarding seeds as you go. Stir kumquats and a very few drops of orange flower water into the oranges.
Serve slices of cake with a spoonful of the citrus compote on the side and a dollop of softly whipped cream on top.

Kale Citrus Salad

                                        

Kale Citrus Salad

Kale has not been the buzz-word in salads lately but the nutritional value is still front and center. This salad was a demonstration by the chefs from the magazine EdibleSanDiego at the Oceanside Harbor, Sunday July 20, show casing the local bounty of fresh fish.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup whole raw nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, etc)
1 bunch Kale, about 4 cups washed, ribs removed, and cut into thin
ribbons
2 oranges, supremed (remove pith, and membrane and have slivers or
slices only)
1/2 cup EVOO
1/4 cup orange juice, (save leftover to make dressing).
1/4 cup vinegar. (red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar are good
options).
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Parmigiano, freshly grated to serve
Note: Lacinto kale preferred but any kale works great.
Directions:
Toast nuts a dry sauté pan over low-medium heat until fragrant and golden. Watch closely and keep the nuts moving around in the pan to avoid burning. OR toast nuts in oven at 325* for 7 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Place kale ribbons in a large bowl and massage with dry hands until the kales softens, and the color turns darker green. Depending own the type of kale used, more or less massaging will be needed.

Make the dressing: add the olive oil and the fresh squeezed orange juice (from the leftover orange core), vinegar, salt and pepper, Dijon mustard to a mason jar or large bowl. Shake or whisk vigorously to emulsify. Tastes the dressing and adjust the flavor to your liking by adding vinegar, pepper, mustard, or salt.

Add 1 tablespoon of the dressing to the kale bowl and continue massaging the kale until it is a softer texture and a pleasant chew. Add more dressing, 1 to 4 tablespoons depending on your preference. Crush the toasted nuts with the flat side of a chef's knife on a cutting board or with a mortar and pestle.

Transfer dressed kale to a serving bowl or platter and top with crushed nuts, orange segments, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Note: Dressing will keep up to one week in the refrigerator.

Chow Mein Chicken Salad

                                    

Chow Mein Chicken Salad

Packed with every texture imaginable, this hearty main-course salad, full of moist chicken, crunchy veggies, crispy noodles and sweet oranges, offers distinct and delicious Asian flavours with every colorful forkful.   

Ingredients:
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts,
about 1½ lbs (750 g), cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) chunks
2 tbsp (30 mL) honey
2 tbsp (30 mL) soy
1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh minced ginger
½ small head red cabbage, shredded, about 8 cups (2 L)
1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
¼ cup (60 mL) red onion, thinly sliced
½ English cucumber, sliced into half moons
3 Cara Cara or blood oranges, segmented
1 cup (250 mL) crispy chow mein noodles
1 cup (250 mL) salted cashews
Dressing
3 tbsp (45 mL) sesame oil
¼ cup (60 mL) seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp (30 mL) brown sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) soy
Pinch chili flakes
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

Toss chicken with honey, soy and fresh minced ginger. Spread on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

In a very large bowl or on a grand platter, gently combine chicken, cabbage, lettuce, onion, cucumber, orange segments, crispy noodles and cashews.

Stir together sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, soy and chili flakes. Whisk in vegetable oil until combined. Toss with salad and serve immediately.
Serves 6 to 8

Celebration Punch

Celebration Punch

It’s time to celebrate! To commemorate a special occasion, I raise a glass to you, dear readers. Ten ingredients combine to make one truly delectable beverage.  Flavors warm and spicy, crisp and cool, all at once. In keeping with our ongoing kitchen pantry preserve/ cocktail experiments, we use fig jam here to special effect, a subtle note that captures the essence of the season, and lingers on the tongue with a silky mouthfeel.
Ingredients:
½ gallon unfiltered apple juice
6 cardamom pods, crushed
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise pods
2 tablespoons fig jam
2 cups bourbon
2 12-ounce bottles ginger beer
5 oranges (use 4 to make 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice and slice 1 into wheels for garnish)
½ cup crystalized ginger, sliced
10 dashes Angostura bitters
Directions:
Pour the apple juice into a large pot. Add the cinnamon sticks, cardamom and star anise and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the fig jam and stir to dissolve. Remove from heat and let cool, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for several hours or overnight.

Pour the spiced apple juice into a large punch bowl or pitcher, using a strainer to remove the whole spices. Add the bourbon, ginger beer and orange juice and mix well. Top with the crystalized ginger, orange slices and bitters. Add ice to serving glasses if desired. Serves 8.

Candied Oranges

Slowly poaching fresh, firm seedless oranges in a light sugar syrup is a simple yet magical kind of alchemy. You still end up with oranges, yes, but now they are glistening jewels — cooked but juicy, candied but fresh, bitter but sweet — that make an uncommonly elegant and refreshing dessert after a heavy winter meal. These cold candied oranges keep up to a month in the refrigerator, and any that are left over can be delicious with thick yogurt in the morning, or beside a cup of mint tea in the afternoon. But in every case, they are most bracing and most delicious when super cold.

New York Times editor Gabrielle Hamilton:  "When I was a kid, my mother, Madeleine, took me to the original Fauchon, the 130-year-old gourmet grocery store on Place de la Madeleine in Paris. Did she stop to pose for a photo under the enamel plaque of the street name, as I seem to remember? I was not yet 10. The store was still old and gold then, wood and brass, ribbon and paper; and inside there were copper pots and tins stacked with precision, and pristine cases of magnificent confiserie, boulangerie, patisserie, charcuterie".

Ingredients:
6 firm, juicy, seedless oranges with thin skins (recently I’ve been using Cara Cara oranges), no bigger than a baseball
6 cups water
2nd cooking:
6 cups granulated sugar

6 cups water

Directions:

1. Bring a stainless-steel pot of water to a boil. (It should be large enough to hold the oranges submerged.)
2. Wash and dry the oranges, and channel from stem to navel at 1/2-inch intervals, removing strips of peel while leaving the pith intact, until the oranges resemble those onion domes on Russian churches. (You need a good, sharp channeler, not a tiny-toothed zester for this one.)
3. Apparently the channels need to be shallow enough to leave a layer of pith thick enough to keep the orange intact while boiling. This seems a crucial detail the recipe unfortunately omits.
Place the oranges and their long, fat threads of channeled peel into the boiling water, and reduce to a simmer. Cover the oranges with a lid one size too small for the pot, to keep them submerged. Let them blanch for about 25 minutes to remove the harshest edge of their bitter nature. They should swell and soften but not collapse or split.

1. Remove the oranges and zest from the simmering water with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Dump out the blanching water, and return the dry pot to the stove.

1. In that same pot, combine the sugar with 6 cups water; bring the sugar water to a boil over medium-high, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then allow to gently boil, and reduce for 10 minutes, uncovered. You want some water to evaporate and for the syrup to take on a little body.
2. Carefully place blanched oranges and zest into the sugar syrup, and reduce heat to a very slow, lethargic simmer. Cover oranges with a parchment circle cut slightly larger than the circumference of the pot (by 1 inch is enough), then place the too-small lid on top of the parchment on top of the oranges, to keep them fully submerged (and sealed under the parchment) in the sluggishly simmering syrup.
3. Cook the oranges in the syrup for about 45 minutes, checking on them frequently to keep the temperature quite slow and stable, until they take on a high gloss and appear vaguely translucent and jewel-like. (We have several induction burners that come with features that can hold a temperature, and I leave the oranges at around 170 degrees for most of the candying, sometimes with a little bump up to 180. But without a thermometer or an induction burner, just a visual slow, slow, slow bubble is a good cue.)
4. Cool oranges and peels in their syrup for a full 24 hours before serving. This kind of “cures” them. They get even better after 48 hours. First, you’ll want to let them cool at room temperature until no longer warm to the touch, at least 4 hours, then refrigerate them until thoroughly chilled. The oranges last refrigerated for 1 month as long as they are submerged in that syrup.
5. Serve very cold. Eat the whole thing, skin and all, with a knife and fork. It’s like a half glacéed fruit and half fresh fruit — refreshing, tonic, digestive and so great after dinner.

As beguiling as the glacéed fruits were — glittery and utterly gorgeous — they were not fun to eat. Too intense, dense and toothache-sweet. These oranges are instead somewhere between that cold quarter section you used to shred between your teeth at halftime huddle in junior-varsity field hockey, sweating and panting around the Igloo water cooler, and those sandy, taffylike traditional candied orange peels a health-conscious mother would put in your snack pouch mixed with nuts and seeds to give her daughter a big, fast — natural — boost.

These are juicy but cooked, candied but fresh, bitter but sweet — that’s all there is to say and certainly all that is needed. No reason to add ice cream or shortbread or cake. The specialness is its own. You just cut into the whole orange with a knife and fork and eat it peel, pith and all — and then marvel at how much it gives you. One whole cold, gorgeous orange, served straight up, doing the trick of reviving, delighting and refreshing you after a meal. Not as common as the quartered oranges you get with your check at the end of your meal at a Chinese restaurant, but not so rare as to be overpriced and labeled exotique.

Seared Scallop Salad With Orange and Bacon

Seared Scallop Salad with Orange and Bacon

Ingredients:

3 oranges
¼ cup (60 mL) olive oil
1 tbsp (15 mL) white wine vinegar
1 tsp (5 mL) maple syrup
½ tsp (2 mL) minced garlic
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 slices bacon, finely chopped
12 large dry-packed scallops, patted dry
8 cups (2 L) washed and dried salad greens

Directions:

Grate 1 tsp (5 mL) zest and squeeze 2 tbsp (30 mL) juice from 1 orange. Cut peel and white pith from remaining oranges and separate into segments.

In a small bowl, whisk together orange zest and juice, oil, vinegar, maple syrup, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Add scallops to skillet. Cook, without moving them, until seared, about 2 minutes. Turn scallops and cook until seared, 1 to 2 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss salad greens and orange segments with just enough dressing to coat them. Divide salad among 4 plates. Top each salad with scallops. Drizzle scallops with any remaining dressing. Sprinkle salads with bacon.

Serves 4

Caramelized Fig, Orange, And Feta Salad

Caramelized Fig, Orange, and Feta Salad

Another great recipe I want to preserve for the future growth and production of my newly planted fig tree. (if I can keep the gophers at bay!)
Ingredients:

1/2 cup superfine sugar

16 ripe figs, cut in half lengthwise 

4 medium oranges, topped and tailed,

   peeled, and sliced into rounds 3/8" thick

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoon anise flavored liqueur

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/3 cup olive oil

7 ounces Feta, broken into 3/8" chunks

1 tablespoon oregano leaves, small one whole

   and larger ones chopped

3 cups arugula

Coarse sea salt and black pepper

*

Directions:

Place a large saute pan over medium heat and add half of the sugar.  Leave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it turn a golden caramel color, don't stir the sugar at this stage.  Once nice and golden, add half of the figs, cut side down.  Cook for two minutes, until starting to soften, before turning to cook for a minute more.  Remove from the pan anad add the second batch of the figs and repeat the cooking process.  You might need to add a tablespoon or two of water to the pan if the figs aren't very juicy.

*

Add the remaining sugar to the pan, return to the heat, and let the sugar start to caramelize before adding the oranges and leaving for one minute on each side.  They should take on a rich caramel color.  Remove and add to plate of figs.

*

Take the caramel off the heat and whisk in the lemon juice, liqueur, anise or fennel seeds, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon sea salt, and a generous grind of black pepper.  Once combined, whisk in the olive oil and set aside.

*

Arrange the oranges  and figs on a large platter and dot with the feta pieces.  Drizzle any juices left on the fruit over the top followed by the dressing.  Sprinkle with the oregano and arugula and serve.
Serves Four