I love this salad, it’s fresh, fragrant and in my opinion has a lot of character due to its vibrant colors and bold flavors. I made it a few weeks ago, then never posted it. All kind of oranges are in season right now, from the cara cara to the blood oranges, there are many citrus out there that are worth exploring. My favorites right now are the Satsuma oranges. Under a rough and thick peel, you find a delicious, juicy and sweet pulp with no seeds that is such an exquisite treat…treat yourself until they last!

Beets are either a hit or a miss with people. Either you love them or hate them, so if you are one of the beet lovers, you might want to give this a try. You can use pistachios or sunflower seeds instead of walnuts and of course some other peppery green would also be an alternative.

In this salad, I used what in French we call “saigner” the orange. It’s a technique we use for peeling citrus fruits. Basically, after you peel the orange, using a very sharp knife you need to cut the top and bottom of the orange, then you cut thinly the white part of it all around the fruit, then you slice it. This way you have nice round slices of oranges and no skin.

Ingredients for 2

• 4 medium cooked beets, peeled and sliced crosswise
• 1.5 cups arugula
• 2 blood oranges, peeled and sliced crosswise

For the vinaigrette

•  3 tbs extra virgin unfiltered olive oil
• 1 tbs meyer lemon juice
• juice of one orange
• 1 tbs orange champagne vinegar (or any based citrus vinegar)
• 1 tbs walnuts, chopped
• 1 tbs mint chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients of the vinaigrette and stir well.

Place greens in a plate, then arrange one slice of orange, then one slice of beet, alternating until you have used all of them.

Add vinaigrette on top and serve either cold or at room temperature

Some days you just feel like a particular item no matter what…after a migraine from hell I had yesterday (seriously the worse migraine I had in my whole life), I was thinking to go to the Emergency room so that I could function. It’s over now but I still feel dizzy from yesterday’s nightmare, I am still in the mood for making/baking whatever …”ing” something.

I have no idea why but I woke up with  an orange craving, a migraine  along with a pregnant woman symptoms is not really the best scenario. Anyway, I was supposed to go to a wedding reception and since I am still struggling with the leftover migraine of yesterday, I decided to stay home and rest and play with oranges.

My mom makes this cake but instead of poppy seeds she uses chocolate chips, and it’s really a splendid cake, the chocolate and the orange are a perfect match. Since I had no chocolate chips, and a huge container of poppy seeds, I thought that would work as well…and it did. The cake ended up very light and fluffy. Actually, I was quite happy the way it turned out, and about my humble baking abilities, since I did not put too much thought into it, and that I am not a sweet tooth type of a person, besides everyone who ate it, loved it. I guess sometimes, the public is your best judge.

I am trying to figure out if I should measure in metric system then convert into imperial or vice versa. I really hate the imperial system of ounces and pounds. I still cannot figure it out and I think never will. So for this cake, I used the cups and converted into grams but I think it’s not really accurate in metrics. My scale just died so I used my cup measurer and not certain it’s that accurate, but the cake turned out great. My next purchase will be a new scale…and that will be today.

Ingredients for 6-8 people

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 (64 g) cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 (or 40 g) cup brown sugar
• 1 cup (or about 130 g) white flour
• 1/3 (or 40 g) cup almond meal
• 2 tbs poppy seeds
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 whole orange
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 1/2 tbs orange blossom water
• 1 tsp orange peel powder (optional)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation

In a container mix eggs and sugars, add heavy cream and oil. Mix well. Add orange juice, orange zest, orange peel powder and orange blossom water. Add almond meal, flour and poppy seeds. Mix to obtain a nice and smooth batter. Add baking soda and baking powder. Mix again. Bake in a non-stick pan in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 30-40 minutes.

For the candied orange, slice an orange crosswise in thin slices. Bring water to a boil, and add orange slices for 3 minutes. Drain them. In a non stick pan add 2 tbs honey and cook orange slices in honey for a few minutes. Then remove and place in a 375F oven until they’re become dry, about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar and place candied oranges on top.