Orange you glad it’s citrus season?

One of my favorite bright spots in the wintertime is all the beautiful citrus fruit. Oranges are actually the largest citrus crop in the world, with the United States accounting for about 10 percent of the world’s production. Florida grows about 70 percent of the US orange crop followed by California, Texas and Arizona. I lived in a Phoenix suburb for many years and would commute daily through the fragrant orange groves. I used to love that time of year when I could drive through the groves with my car windows down and inhale the sweet scent of orange blossoms. A side benefit of living there was coming across the extra oranges, grapefruits and lemons that people who had more citrus than they could eat would leave at the end of their driveways or on their porches. Navel oranges were the most common. It was only after moving back to the Pacific Northwest, that I started eating the smaller (and easier to peel) varieties and when I discovered the sweeter versions like Cara Cara and blood oranges. 

The beautiful colors of citrus fruits are the perfect remedy for brightening up a dark day in the Pacific Northwest or a blasé January salad. For a salad, I was inspired by the Blood Orange and Avocado Salad found in Alison Roman’s Dining In cookbook and also recreated by Cookie+Kate. I also knew that I needed to glaze either cookies or a cake in the beautiful pink color that comes from the juice of blood oranges and went to Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi for inspiration.

Blood Orange & Avocado Spinach Salad

I love the idea of the oranges and avocados together but wanted to add some greens and make this salad into a meal. My take on this salad starts with a bed of fresh spinach. I used pickled red onion, toasted and salted pepitas and chunks of thick cut bacon. I buy pepitas in the bulk section and toast/salt them in small batches so I have on hand. Also, whenever I cook bacon, I cook the entire package and save the leftover for salads. For my pickled onions, I use this recipe and keep in fridge. This all meant my weeknight salad came together in a snap.

Ingredients (these proportions yield 2 meal-sized servings; scale up if desired)

4 cups fresh baby spinach

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into ½ inch chunks

1 large avocado, sliced 

2 blood oranges

Pickled red onion to taste

¼ cup or more cilantro, chopped

2 Tablespoons of pepitas, roasted & salted (see instructions below)

Flaky sea salt

Black pepper

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Olive oil (about 2 Tbs.)

Apple cider vinegar or lime juice from ½ lime

Directions

1.     Spread washed and dried spinach in a shallow bowl or platter/large plate. You can also build the salads in separate serving dishes. 

2.     Scatter bacon over the spinach. 

3.     Peel and evenly slice avocado. For salads, choose avocados a little on the firm side. Fan out the avocados and place onto salad.

4.     Next, slice the oranges. Okay, this was the hardest part. My oranges were super juicy and started falling apart. Peel the skin and take off any remaining pith. Place the orange on a cutting board and slice into even (about ¼ inch) rounds using a sharp knife. Arrange on salad and tuck into avocado to show off the colors.

5.     Place rings of pickled onions on salad. Sprinkle on cilantro and pepitas.

6.     Top with flaky sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and red pepper flakes if desired. I like lots of black pepper and a smidge of red pepper flakes.

7.     For the dressing, drizzle a good quality olive oil over salad. Then add acid with lime juice, or you can use a good apple cider vinegar. I used a splash of both.

Check out A Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose Olive Oil published by Brightland, which is my favorite “fancy” but not everyday olive oil.

8.     Toss right before serving and get ready to smile.

For the pepitas:

Heat a small skillet over medium heat and pour pepitas into pan. Spread the pepitas in a single layer and sprinkle in an ample amount of kosher salt. They will soon start to pop and brown. Watch carefully, shaking pan a few times and turn heat down to medium low if browning too fast. Once the majority are brown, remove from heat and place on a plate or parchment paper. This will only take about 5 minutes.

After we sat down to eat this light and cheerful dinner, an idea came to me. If I were making this for a larger group, I would layer the salad artfully in a trifle bowl to show off all the gorgeous colors. Next time!

Lemony Olive Oil Cake with Blood Orange Glaze

Let’s be honest, my real motivation for buying blood oranges was to make a pretty pink glaze for a cake. I love the Snacking Cakes cookbook more every time I look through it. To quote the author, “These are the sort of cakes you can throw together after work on a weeknight with minimal effort, and minimal mess.” Perfect for when you just need something sweet after dinner! I also love that she includes ideas for flavor substitutions and instructions for baking the cakes either in an 8x8 pan, round cake pan, loaf pan, and in some instances, a Bundt pan. Bonus points awarded because most of these cakes can be made in one bowl. Anyhow, this was what I was looking for—an easy “snack” made up of cake for a little after dinner delight.

I decided on the Lemony Olive Oil Cake on pages 44-45 and baked it for 35 minutes in a single 9” round cake pan. While the recipe calls for lemons, your favorite variety of oranges or even grapefruit will work. I used freshly squeezed lemon juice and a mix of lemon and blood orange zest for the cake. The glaze is where I wanted the blood oranges to sing. The glaze consists of simply juice from one blood orange, 1 cup powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Adjust the liquid to get the right pouring consistency. After the cake cooled, I poured the beautiful glaze in the center and waited for it to spread as much as it could naturally. Then I smoothed it out to the edges with an offset spatula and sprinkled on a generous amount of zest from the blood oranges. The reward was a super moist and perfectly tart cake thanks to the buttermilk, olive oil and citrus juice. doing their thing. The two of us devoured it over a course of three days – which is about when the glaze starts to get soft and no longer looks perfect. 

One more note on blood oranges. Keep them at room temperature and let them breathe in a bowl or basket for up to a couple weeks. If you don’t use them within this time, place them in a Ziploc bag or closed container and put them in your produce drawer in the fridge. 

Here are a few more happy citrusy recipes that caught my eye:

Cara Cara Orange Curd sounds divine between layers of a dark chocolate cake.

Orange Salad with Dates, Mint, and Chiles from Martha Stewart. I can’t wait to try the mint-chile-orange combo.

And super easy and cheerful: Blood Orange Mimosas. Sign me up. 

Cheers to citrus! Here’s to dreaming of sunny days ahead.