Spice Baked Blood Oranges

The blood oranges for this post were supplied by Redbelly Citrus

People think I'm strange (which I'm totally fine with) because I love Winter.

In Summer it's sweaty, stinky and the gingers among us will relate to a sun exposure time of 8.3 seconds before sunburn sets in. Winter on the other hand is a wonderland of warm soups, toasty blankets and the start of the blood orange season.

Again this year I get the pleasure of playing with some Redbelly Citrus blood oranges. There is a sense of anticipation when the box arrives in the post of all the citrusy possibilities which is only further aroused by the zesty aroma as you open the box.

The first recipe of the season keeps the fruit very close to their original state, when the produce is this good you really don't want to mess around with nature.



Spice Baked Blood Oranges
Ingredients

• 4-5 blood oranges
• 3-4 cloves whole
• 3-4 star anise whole
• Sugar

Method

• If you place your chopping board in a lipped baking tray this will collect any stray juice and help keep your benches clean
• Peel the blood oranges, removing the pith
• Slice into 1-2cm slices, that's about 4 slices per blood orange
• Remove any seeds
• Lay flat in a glass or ceramic baking dish
• Add the spices and any juice collected in the tray
• Sprinkle each slice with a pinch of sugar
• Bake uncovered at 160°C for 30 minutes
• Let cool and then place in a jar ready to be used to make porridge something to wake up for.
• The baked blood oranges would also be delicious with custard or ice cream if dessert is more your style of breakfast
• If they last that long I'd keep them in the fridge for about a week
• Cinnamon or cardamom are some other spice options if you want to spice up your life without needing to resort to 90's pop

I think I will have enough Vitamin C to ward off any side effects of my beloved Winter

What a way to start the day!
Shredded coconut adds some texture to the porridge

Blueberry crumble tray bake

Last Sunday's Bake Club theme was tray bakes so my contribution was a blueberry crumble tray bake.

There were a few decisions about where the berries should go while testing but in the end I opted for a layer between the sponge and the crumble.

Given the current conversations around the health benefits of whole foods I also went with a wholemeal flour.

I have since learnt that the whole foods philosophy does not extend to whole cakes, whole pizzas, or whole buffets which is a shame as I thought they may have been onto something there........


Blueberry Crumble Tray Bake
Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 430g wholemeal self raising flour
• 250ml cream
• 200g frozen blueberries

For crumble

• 60g unsalted butter
• 40g treacle
• 80g slivered almonds
• 100g rolled oats
• 30g wholemeal self raising flour

Method:

Pre heat oven to 180ºC and line a 27.9cm x 17.8cm x 3.81cm tray (or there abouts) with baking paper

Make crumble:

• Melt butter with treacle in a microwave for 30 seconds (or on stove top)
• Add almonds, oats and flour to a bowl
• Mix butter and treacle through the dry ingredients

Make batter:

• Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy
• Add vanilla
• Beat through eggs a little at a time
• Mix in flour and cream
• Spread batter into lined tray
• Evenly sprinkle blueberries onto batter
• Top with crumble
• Press down to even the top
• Bake at 180ºC for 40-45 mins
• Let cool in tin before serving

I over line the tray so the corners can be tucked over to protect the crumble sides from burning.

 



 The cream is just thickened cream with some caster sugar & about 10 blueberries whipped using a hand blender.

That's not how you make porridge...

I cook with the philosophy of Yoda, you'd think Julia Child would be more appropriate but no, Yoda, it is.

So when I was watching an episode of River Cottage where they made a breakfast bar, it did not deter me that I only had 3 of the ingredients required. The peanut butter was substituted for some tahini blended with some pecans and hazelnuts, the honey was golden syrup and so on. The key is never be afraid to cook, it may not arrive as the planned but you have created an original recipe (just pray its edible).
This is the original River Cottage recipe below is a combination of my replacement ingredients and a trip to the shops.

Date and Oat Bar
Ingredients

• 125 grams unsalted butter
• 80 grams brown sugar
• 150 grams total combined weight of peanut butter and tahini (how much of each is up to you)
• 80 grams honey
• zest of 1 lemon and lime
• 300 grams rolled oats (450 grams if you want extra crunchy bars)
• 150 grams chopped dates
• 150 grams mixed seeds, Pepita, linseed, sunflower and black sesame
• 50 grams almond meal
• extra honey and white sesame seeds

Method

• In a large pot melt butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, tahini and honey on low heat.

• Add remaining ingredients and mix well

• Press into a greased pan (i used 18cm x 28cm, but what ever you have is fine)
• Drizzle top with extra honey and sprinkle with sesame seeds
• bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
• Cool completely before cutting.

I store this in the fridge, mostly because is a million degrees at the moment and it is really nice chilled.

If I only had a grain.....

I am lucky enough to share my journey of baking with one of my dearest friends. We are our own appreciation society, regularly scoring our dishes an overly generous 15 out of 10. 

I love it that after we have eaten our latest creations there will be an text the next day, "how much butter in your scones was it again?" "which recipe did you use for the bagels" "was that a stretch or a knead?" The best part to this relationship is there is no competition as to who is better.

The latest adventure was a multi grain loaf, her is amazing, so in the spirit of no competition I thought I better get my grain on.

The Internet has many multi grain loaf recipes but most call for pre-packaged grain mixes. I didn't want to use a pre-done mix so have experimented a couple of times and come up with this recipe.

You can mix up the different grains to suit your tastes, if it turns out bad, blame it on the grain!
(I'm sorry, at least I haven't subjected you to It's graining men...OK now I am truly sorry)

Grain Class of 2012

Top row L-R: black sesame seeds, chia, basil seed, sesame seeds, pepita seeds, rolled oats

Bottom row L-R:  Linseed, Sunflower seeds

 

Multi grain loaf
makes 2

• 1 tbs honey
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 3/4 water
• 14g dried yeast
• good splash of olive oil
• 500g flour (I use 300g strong and 200g wholemeal)
• 15g oats
• 20g pepita
• 30g sunflower seeds
• 50g linseed
• 30g chia
• 5g basil seeds
• 25g sesame
• 25g black sesame 
• 10g salt
• you can vary the grains but a 200g total works well

Method

• Combine hot water and honey in a bowl and stir to disolve
• Add remaining water and yeast to bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to activate.

not a cappucino

• Combine flours, grains and salt in mixing bowl.
• Make a well and add the liquids

If using a mixer add the liquids first, it combines better.



•  Knead till dough is elastic and then put it in an oiled bowl to rest.
• More flour may be needed depending on the day, it should come away from the bowl cleanly but still be a wet dough
• Depending on the weather it should take about an hour to double in size.

• Stretch the dough and then let rest for 30 mins and repeat.
• Divide into 2 loaves and place in greased and floured (I use course semolina) loaf tin. 
• Let rest for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

• Bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for about 45minutes-1 hour.
• Spray top of the bread with water and sprinkle with some extra grains.
• Add a cake tin of water to the bottom of the oven to achieve a crusty loaf.

This bread makes the best banana sandwich ever!!!!!!!

Best breakfast bread with avocado, poached egg and diced bacon sprinkle..well chucked on the top.

Most important meal of the day

As if there is an unimportant meal of the day or ever for that matter. I have a love hate relationship with porridge.  Done well it can be the most wonderful way to start the day, and healthy as well.  You may think that it is because of the layer of honey, golden syrup or brown sugar that is amassed on top it is such a comfort food.

Alas as I child I wasn’t allowed to have sugar on top as it would make me fat, well I dunno what happened, there must be some other explanation. I never add sugar to coffee or tea and would usually opt for a savoury plate rather than a sweet (unless it’s a crisp coconut biscuit), so there must be hidden sugar just waiting out there to get me.  

If I did some research it would probably freak me out to see all the hidden sugar there is and I’d end up just eating home grown mung beans, so best not research I say.

Done badly and porridge has us all thinking back to our school days and that bottle of Clag with the lid that didn’t make all the way back on.

My jaded past with porridge stems back to a hotel buffet breakfast, that had a great selection of delights but was poorly laid out. Who would put the chipolata sausages behind the porridge in the bain maire?? No really who would do that; you know where this is going.  

Needless to say 1 pair of over heated tongs and the next thing there were sausages performing Olympic synchronized diving straight into the porridge.

Dilemma do I stay and fish them out or do I just walk away very quickly, you know we would all just work away quickly.  So to the vegetarian that only had the porridge to look forward to that morning, I am truly sorry.

Rest assured that each time I stay in a hotel now there is a sweep of the porridge to sausage location proximity just to see if I am able to proceed unaided.

2016 update: During my stay in Stockholm for Eurovision there was a concerning moment when I realised the porridge was right next the sausages again! 

Thankfully there are no international sausage related incidents to report on...

Date and Almond Porridge.

·         1 cup rolled oats

·         1.5 cups milk (full or light or non dairy)

·         ½ cup pitted dates (dried or fresh)

·         ¼ cup almonds (slivered, flaked, whole, choice is yours)

·         ¼ tsp. cinnamon

Method

·         Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and simmer on medium heat till a soft porridge consistency, about 15 minutes

·         Add brown sugar/honey to taste (remember the childhood fat warning, or not and live a happy guilt free life)

To speed up the cooking time you can soak the oats in the milk/water, in the fridge overnight.

Some recipes say boil and then simmer, but I go for a slow simmer as porridge is very easy to catch on the pan. If that happens to make cleaning simpler, soak pan in a small layer of water and about half a cup of bi carb soda.

Just be wary of stray sausages in the porridge, if ever there is a life lesson to be learned it is to be wary of stray sausages!

Post updated with new photos July 2016