Ginger Honey glazed Navet Steaks with Orange Juice and Rosemary
When I saw these beautiful yellow turnips, also known as Navet, at the store, I had to buy them although I wasn't really sure what to cook with them. They are related to beetroot but taste more like rutabaga. After 1 or 2 days of looking at them I found my inspiration, thick Navet steaks fried in butter with ginger, honey, orange juice and rosemary. I made a similar recipe with rutabaga in December and the combination of turnip and ginger is one that I like a lot.
This time, I wanted to add a few more aromas, the sweetness of honey, the fruity sourness of orange juice and some woody rosemary, all this combined in the buttery juices of my yellow turnip. The result left me speechless! I couldn't get enough of this sauce, so thick, sweet, spicy and sour, simply amazing, and the Navet steaks covered in this sticky glaze combined perfectly with all the different flavours.
Ginger Honey glazed Navet Roots with Orange Juice and Rosemary
For a lunch or side dish for 2 you need
yellow turnip, cut into thick steaks, 2 (you can also use rutabaga)
ginger, grated, a thumbnail sized piece
honey, 1 teaspoon
orange juice for deglazing
fresh rosemary, chopped, 2 tablespoons
butter 3 tablespoons
salt and black pepper
In a large pan, heat the butter together with the honey and ginger, add the turnip and season with salt and pepper. On medium heat, fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Deglaze with a splash of orange juice, let it cook for 1-2 minutes and sprinkle with rosemary.
Blood Orange Cake
Two things led to this cake, firstly, I haven't written about blood oranges in more than two weeks, secondly, my mother. She reads (nearly) everything I share on eat in my kitchen, she is my mother after all. She recently mentioned that my photos could do with some new decoration. She's a woman of action, so within a few days she sent me a parcel packed with some pots, silver plates and a selection of her favourite linen from an artisan weaver in the Italian Dolomite Alps. I'm not really a big decorator, I'm more of a minimalist but I'm open to some inspiration, especially when it comes from my mother.
The package arrived, with beautiful handwoven craftsman's work, a table cloth and runners in various colours and designs. One of them caught my attention, a golden yellow design, a bit more frilly than my usual style but I liked it. I knew it would need to be paired with the right food to unfold its beauty. The inspiration came within a split second, a spongy blood orange cake with sugared slices on top, a bit opulent and the fruits are also from Italy, like the cloth.
Blood Orange Cake
For this recipe you need a 24cm x 10,5cm / 9.5" x 4" loaf tin.
butter, soft, 180g / 6.5 ounces
granulated sugar 180g / 6.5 ounces
organic eggs 3
blood orange zest 2 tablespoons
freshly squeezed blood orange juice 3 tablespoons
plain flour 210g / 7.5 ounces
baking powder 1 teaspoon
For the topping
blood orange, cut into very thin slices, 1
granulated sugar 50g / 2 ounces
water 2 tablespoons
icing sugar 2 tablespoons, for the syrup
freshly squeezed blood orange juice 4 tablespoons, for the syrup
Set the oven to 160°C / 320°F (fan-assisted oven) and line your loaf tin with parchment paper.
For the topping, cook the orange slices, sugar and water in a sauce pan on high temperature for around 5 minutes until the water has evaporated. Put aside.
Mix the butter together with the sugar till fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing for a couple minutes. Mix the orange juice and zest into the mixture, gently fold in the flour combined with baking powder and scoop into your prepared tin.
Bake for 35 minutes, take it out and arrange the sugared orange slices on top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Check with a skewer, it should come out clean.
Mix the icing sugar with 4 tablespoons of blood orange juice for the syrup and pour over the cake (you can spike the top of the cake first).
A juicy treat with orange, turmeric and ginger
Today's post is dedicated to all my friends who have a cold - unfortunately, quite a few at the moment. I would love to have them all over to nurse them, so I decided to come up with a tasty and healthy juice, full of vitamins and powerful roots to give them a recipe that will strengthen them again!
My current favourite, the blood orange, is as important to this juice as freshly grated turmeric and ginger roots. Turmeric is a great helper when your body suffers from inflammations, be it in the throat, the ears or your tummy. This root has an important role in the Ayurveda philosophy and is assumed to have a big effect on our cells like ginger which is an antiseptic boost to the immune system.
If you feel well and strong - which I hope you all are - then you can just enjoy this wonderful juice and its spicy, fruity taste. And anyways, prevention is better than cure.
For 1 big glass of this powerful drink, you will need around 350ml of freshly squeezed orange juice (I used 6 of my blood oranges), 1/8 teaspoon of freshly grated turmeric root and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. I bought the turmeric in a small organic shop around the corner but you can find it in lots of Asian shops as well.
Drink it, enjoy, and get well soon!
Wintery Sunday Morning Muffins with Blood Orange Marmalade
Sunday morning is made for muffins! They combine the spongy feeling of a cake with the handiness of a cookie and they don't take much longer to make than pancakes. You don't even need an electric mixer. You combine everything with a spoon, fill the lumpy batter into your muffin tray and within 12 minutes you'll have warm little muffins on your breakfast table. It can't get any better on a Sunday morning!
This recipe doesn't need many ingredients, you might already have them at home if you’re into baking. I mix some of my blood orange marmalade into the batter, which you can also replace with bitter orange marmalade (that's what I normally do) or with plum jam or any other jam that fits to cinnamon and nutmeg (as I add these two spices as well). These muffins are light and fluffy, I love them warm, tear them in half and let their wintery aroma fill the air - heaven!
Sunday Morning Muffins with Marmalade and Cinnamon
You need a muffin tray with 12 molds, lined with paper baking cups.
200g / 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
70g / 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for the topping
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for the topping
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of salt
160ml / 2/3 cup whole milk
50g / 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons blood orange marmalade (or bitter orange marmalade or plum jam)
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg and marmalade. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and quickly stir with a wooden spoon until you have a lumpy batter. The more you mix it the more it will lose its light texture so don't mix it too long.
Fill the batter into the lined muffin tray. Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping, sprinkle on top of the batter and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden and spongy. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes and enjoy warm!
Red Cabbage and Mango Salad
When I had my tea this morning, I stared at a bright red cabbage on my kitchen table for about 5 minutes. I was lost in a daze, still overwhelmed by yesterday's response to the eat in my kitchen feature by ZEIT Magazin. I got so many beautiful messages, thank you all! In case you didn't read it yet, here is the link: http://blog.zeit.de/zeitmagazin/2014/01/05/sonntagsessen-92/
So, back to the red cabbage! My spontaneous decision: I chop the cabbage thinly and mix it with mango slices - I waited patiently for it to ripen, it should be good by now. All this salad needs is a light dressing with olive oil and orange juice and some coriander leaves on top. The light spiciness of the cabbage is great together with the sweet fruitiness of the mango and orange. A vibrant quick and easy Monday lunchtime kick!
Red Cabbage and Mango Salad
For 4 people you need
red cabbage, rinsed, dried and sliced thinly, 400g / 14 ounces
ripe mango, cut into thin slices, 1
orange juice 5 tablespoons
olive oil 3 tablespoons
salt and pepper
coriander leaves, a handful
Mix the olive oil with the orange juice. Season the dressing with salt and pepper and pour over the cabbage. Lay the mango slices and coriander leaves on top - that's it. Tastes great, feels good, prepared in a few minutes - and it looks gorgeous!
Orange Cheesecake
The first time I had New York cheesecake is quite a while ago - it was love at first sight! When I was fourteen I traveled to New York and Canada with a friend of mine and her family. As soon as I took my first bite I was hooked and during the following three weeks of our holiday I don't believe I left out a single chance to get a piece of cheesecake, every day, at every restaurant we went to. I became a true cheesecake specialist!
Now, when I bake my own, I'm always reminded of that trip and the excitements of being a traveling teenager. Over the years I tried out many cheesecake recipes and developed my own favourite with orange zest and juice and cream cheese mixed with ricotta. It is still as rich and moist as the traditional version, the citrus flavour just adds a fresh, fruity specialness and gives it a lighter feeling.
Orange Cheesecake
For a 20.5cm / 8" springform pan you need
digestive cookies, crushed very finely, 210g / 7.5 ounces
butter, melted, 70g / 2.5 ounces
cream cheese, at room temperature, 450g / 16 ounces
ricotta, at room temperature, 100g / 3.5 ounces
granulated sugar 100g / 3.5 ounces
vanilla sugar 1 teaspoon
organic eggs 3
cornstarch 1 teaspoon
zest of 1 orange
orange juice 1 tablespoon
zest of 1 large lemon
juice of 1 lemon (4 tablespoons)
a pinch of salt
Mix the crushed cookies with the melted butter until crumbly and combined and press into your springform pan. Put in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Set the oven to 165°C / 330°F and put a deep roasting tin in the oven on the lowest position. Boil water in a kettle.
Mix the cream cheese, ricotta, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the cornstarch, lemon and orange zest and juice and continue mixing.
Take the baking pan out of the freezer and wrap in aluminium foil twice so that the bottom and sides are well covered to protect the cheesecake from the water. Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the hardened crumbs and place carefully into the tin in the oven. Fill the roasting tin with the boiling water from your kettle. The water should come half way up the wrapped springform pan. Bake for 50 minutes, switch off the oven and leave the cake in the oven to cool. After around an hour you can take your cheesecake out and chill in the fridge for a couple hours.
Couscous with Orange, Ginger and 6 Spices
Two days ago I filmed a live session at a recording studio. As there were five of us and we had to work till late, I wanted to prepare something nice for us to eat, and to feed our energetic mood.
I didn't have much time to prepare, so a box of couscous caught my attention (5 minutes and it's done!). My mother had just sent it to me a couple days before because, I think, something that has to sit rather than cook for just a few minutes didn't quite satisfy her idea of cooking. I had half an hour to enhance it a bit so I decided to mix it with slices of leek and carrot and to add some strong exotic flavors - a homemade curry mixture with orange zest, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. I mixed in some raisins to add some sweetness to the fruity spiciness of the curry mixture. Quick and easy - perfect food to wake you up (exactly what we needed at 11pm)!
A Couscous with Orange, Ginger and 6 Spices
For 6 people you need
couscous 360g / 12.5 ounces
water 540ml (mixed with 1 teaspoon of salt)
1/2 a medium sized leek, thinly sliced
spring onion, thinly sliced, 2
carrots, cut in small cubes, 4
raisins, a handful
olive oil, 3 tablespoons plus more for frying
butter, 2 tablespoons
sour cream, 3 tablespoons
For the spice mixture
ginger, grated, 2 teaspoons
zest of an orange, 2 teaspoons
turmeric, ground, 1 teaspoon
black peppercorns, ground, 1 teaspoon
cinnamon, ground, 1 teaspoon
cardamom, ground, 1 teaspoon
cayenne pepper, ground, 1 teaspoon
cumin, ground, 1 teaspoon
Let the raisins soak in a cup of hot water.
Bring the salted water to the boil. Take the pot off the heat. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the water, add the couscous and mix immediately, cover with a lid (but leave the pot off the heat). Let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the butter, mix and separate the grains with a fork.
Mix all your spices for the spice mixture (including the ginger and orange zest) and grind in a mortar. Warm some olive oil in a large pan and add the leek, spring onions and the carrots. Push the vegetables to the side after a couple minutes, pour some more oil in the middle of the pan and fry 3 teaspoons of your curry mixture for a minute on medium heat. Mix everything together and fry for another 1o minutes (keep in mind that the carrots shouldn't become too soft). Season with salt.
Mix the couscous and the fried vegetables in a big bowl, add the sour cream and more of your curry mixture until you find the right balance of spiciness (I added another 3 teaspoons of the spices at that point, so 6 teaspoons in all). When you are happy with the result, take the raisins out of the water and sprinkle on top of your couscous.
Mulled Wine to celebrate the start of Advent season
The Christmas markets are back and so is mulled wine!
Today we got our Christmas tree for the start of the Advent season. The tree is up and we clink our mugs filled with steaming mulled wine and enjoy the sweet smell of orange, cinnamon, cloves and wine. Now it's time to decorate our beautiful fir tree, listen to some music and enjoy the warm drink together with some mince pies. I love December!
Mulled Wine
My recipe is a rough guideline, play with it, which is what I do. Sometimes I add some orange or lemon juice or put a few ginger slices into the steaming wine, or refine it with some cardamom and aniseed.
red wine 1 bottle (750ml)
black tea, preferably Earl Grey, 300ml / 1 1/4 cups
brandy or rum 30ml / 1 ounce
honey 2 tablespoons
maple sirup 3-4 tablespoons
organic orange, scrubbed and rinsed, 1
cinnamon stick, broken, 1
cinnamon, ground, 1/2 teaspoon
star-anis, single pieces broken from one star, 3
cloves 10
optionally:
cardamom pods, cracked, 3
aniseed 1 teaspoon
orange juice 300ml / 1 1/4 cups
Slice the orange thickly and stud with cloves.
Combine everything in a pan, close with a lid and warm up slowly on medium heat. The spices need time to spread their flavors! But watch it as it shouldn't start boiling. Sweeten to taste, fill the steaming wine in mugs and get cosy!