Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

The Wet Ingredients

The Flour

The Dry Ingredients

Mixing the Wet Ingredients into the Dry

The Blood Orange Segments

The Greased Pan

Adding the Orange Segments into the Batter

The Cake Batter in the Pan before Baking

A Blood Orange with Top and Bottom Removed

Badly Supremed Orange

Honey-Blood Orange Compote

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
just after it came out of the oven

A slice of cake with compote
and whipped cream

This recipe came to me from The New York Times, Good Appetite column.  The recipe itself was created by cookbook author, Melissa Clark. She has co-written many cookbooks and has recently authored a cookbook under her own name called "Cook This Now."  After making the cake, I saw this same recipe on my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen.   It was posted on that blog last year.  I guess I'm a bit behind the times.

I did not know what supreming an orange meant before I made this cake.  I saw no need to learn about it until I read the recipe.  You might say I taught myself how to "supreme" an orange by watching this video on www.youtube.com.  The video helped me understand what I was supposed to do.  Too bad I didn't watch the video before I started the process.  This cake is not difficult to make except for "supreming" the orange.  Once you learn how to do that though, it is easy.  I'm here to tell you that I made a few mistakes with this cake.  Here goes:  I left out the 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, I put the wet ingredients into the dry instead of the other way around and I left the membrane on the blood orange segments I put into the cake. I was surprised that the cake still rose nicely even without the baking powder.  I don't know if I'll try making this cake again but at least I learned how to "supreme" an orange! The oranges that I did a fair job supreming are the ones I used for the Honey-Blood Orange Compote.  The honey I used for the compote is orange blossom honey from a local family-owned business called The Bee Folks.

Even with my mistakes, this cake tastes yummy.  

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

Time:  1 hr. 20 mins. Plus cooling

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing pan

3 blood oranges

1 cup sugar

Buttermilk or plain yogurt

3 large eggs

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Honey-blood orange compote, for serving (optional) (see note)

Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions:

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 membrane 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 ¼ 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 minute, 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.  Serve with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote, if desired.

Yield:  8 to 10 servings.

Note:  To make honey-blood orange compote, supreme 3 more blood oranges according to directions in Step 2.  Drizzle in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.

 Enjoy!

The Creative Cook

Rigatoni with Cauliflower Sauce and Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs

Rigatoni with Cauliflower Sauce and
Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs

I tried this recipe last week.  It made a nice meal that was almost meatless if you don't count the Italian bacon or Pancetta which is technically meat.  This recipe comes from Rachael Ray.  Generally, I think her recipes are a bit complicated for the outcome but this one was pretty good.   It got my family to eat cauliflower which is a good thing.   

Rigatoni with Cauliflower Sauce and Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs

Ingredients:

For the Breadcrumbs:

·         2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

·         4 tablespoons butter 

·         6 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 cup breadcrumbs, Panko or homemade (coarse ground)

·         1/3 to 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley tops, finely chopped

·         1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

For the Cauliflower Sauce:

·         2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

·         1/4 pound pancetta, guanciale* or bacon, chopped

·         1 onion, chopped

·         2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped

·         2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped

·         2 tablespoons thyme, finely chopped

·         1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

·         3 tablespoons chopped golden raisins

·         1/2 cup dry white wine

·         1/2 cup chicken stock

·         1 head cauliflower, root and core cut away from head with sharp paring knife

·         Salt and pepper

·         1 pound rigatoni

·         3 tablespoons butter

Yields: 4-6

Preparation:

For the breadcrumbs, heat EVOO and butter over medium heat, melting butter into oil. Add garlic and stir 1-2 minutes. Add breadcrumbs and stir until very fragrant and deeply golden in color. Remove breadcrumbs from heat and cool; toss with parsley and cheese.

For the sauce, heat EVOO, a couple of turns of the pan, over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. Add pancetta, guanciale or bacon and stir until rendered and crispy, 3-4 minutes. Add onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes and raisins, and stir to soften 3-5 minutes. Add white wine and stock, set cauliflower into pot, season with salt and pepper, and cover. Cook 15-20 minutes until very tender then mash up into small pieces with wooden spoon or potato masher.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil for pasta. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente. Add a cup of starchy water from pasta to sauce just before draining.

Along with starchy water, stir butter into cauliflower sauce. Combine with pasta and adjust seasoning. Serve in shallow bowls topped with garlic breadcrumbs. 

*Guanciale (Italian pronunciation: [ɡwanˈtʃaːle]) is an unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig's jowl or cheeks. Its name is derived from guancia, Italian for cheek. Guanciale is similar to the jowl bacon of the United States.   This definitionis from www.wikipedia.org.