Tag: Honey

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

On By lukephillaryhIn Ode to NYTLeave a comment
Olive Oil Cake with blood orange Melissa Clark recipe
The perfect cake for dessert or breakfast 🙂

Citruses make the winter much more manageable. When December roles around, I’m always happily surprised to see lemon, orange, and mandarin dishes populate restaurant menus and appear on my favorite food blogs. They’re so cheerful and bright, I forget their best time is wintertime. Of all the citruses, the blood orange is an easy favorite. Tangy, sweet, and aesthetically delightful, its color adds a lovely pop to any plate. I’ve been intrigued by olive oil cake as it sounded like a dessert I could enjoy, without guilt, at all times of day. It is also incredibly easy to prepare. Our fav Melissa Clark provides the recipe for this cake. Don’t skip using good olive oil. It makes the cake more flavorful. And stock up on blood oranges! There’s no reason to be skimpy, they’re in season.

Ingredients:

  • butter (for greasing the pan)
  • 3-6 blood oranges (more if you’d like to make compote)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • approx. 2/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp honey (optional, for compote)
  • whipped cream (optional, for serving)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350ÂşF. Grease a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan (we used a 9-inch round pan, 8-by-8 square pan works well also). Grate zest of 2 oranges and place in bowl with sugar. Fully incorporate the zest and sugar, using your hands to rub the ingredients to ensure even distribution.
  2. Supreme 2-3 oranges (these you will mix into the batter, so supreme more if you like more fruit chunks). To do this, cut off the bottom and top of the orange so it can stand upright on your cutting board. Then, with a sharp knife, cut away peel and pith, following the curve of the fruit. Cut the orange into segments along its connective membrane and let fall into a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Squeeze juice of 1-2 oranges into a measuring cup. Add yogurt or buttermilk to measuring cup until you have a little less than 1 cup of liquid. Mix and then add to bowl of sugar, whisking to fully incorporate.  Whisk in eggs.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet ingredients, a bit at a time, whisking to incorporate. Switch to a spatula and then slowly add the olive oil. Fold into the batter and be mindful to incorporate before pouring in more. Fold in orange pieces. Pour batter into a pan.
  5. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted into cake’s center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool at room temperature until ready to serve. Tastes even more delicious when served with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote.
  6. To make compote, supreme 3 more oranges and mix with 2 tsp of honey. Let sit for 5 minutes then stir once more.

Hot Honey Shrimp

On By lukephillaryhIn Ode to NYT2 Comments
hot honey shrimp NYT Food recipe
Spicy, sweet, speedy – delicious!

Shrimp dishes are the ultimate quick and easy dinner for two. We make shrimp when we’re feeling lazy, haven’t done grocery shopping for the evening, and there’s a sale at Whole Foods. Yes, we shop at Whole Foods…occasionally. It’s a guilty pleasure. To cook our fancy, albeit discounted, shrimp we look to two of our favorite chefs for guidance. Mark Bittman’s Simplest Best Shrimp Dish and Melissa Clark’s Hot Honey Shrimp are delicious – impossible to screw up – recipes that use few ingredients and can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. While Mark’s dish had been our go-to for years, Melissa’s recently wooed us with her perfect mix of sweet and spicy. A side of rice is an absolute must for each. If you’re fully committed to making this one the the easiest dinner meals ever, stop by your local Chinese spot for a takeout box of white rice.

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 TBS honey
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 1/2 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 1 garlic cloves, grated (use Microplane or finely mince)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
  • 1 pound cleaned, deveined shrimp (the larger the better!)
  • 2 TBS cold butter, cut into small cubes (1 per shrimp)
  • lime wedges, for garnish
  • 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced, for garnish
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced, for garnish

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 450°F.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine honey, cayenne, lime zest, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss in shrimp and mix until coated.
  3. Arrange shrimp on a large rimmed baking sheet and place a lil’ cube of butter on each shrimp. Roast until shrimp is pink and firm, about 5 minutes. Garnish with lime juice, jalapeño, and scallion.

Details: Enjoy as dinner for 2 or an appetizer for a intimate get together.