June 2024 - Oranges - The Magic Fruit

 
Summer’s River
 
Summer’s River runs clear and lovely
Over pied pebbles,
Through shallows where jeweled trout
Sleep in the sweet afternoon,
Past reeds grown tall and generous,
Where the red winged blackbird calls 
From the lush banks and glides
To the highest watching place.
Everything about the river 
Celebrates summer’s journey--
The slow kind time
When bee-filled orange blossoms scent the air,
When we long to hold a frog
And feel his moist belly
In the lifeline of our palm,
When the water’s own voice
Hovers and flutters in the shifting light.
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In the beautiful warm month of June, we associate delicate and fragrant white orange
blossoms with weddings and brides’ bouquets. And throughout the year, we enjoy eating fresh oranges in various forms, as juice for breakfast, fruit peeled and eaten by hand and as luscious cakes and pastries prepared with care. Like their sister citrus fruit, lemons, oranges can also be incorporated into savory dishes, such as the world-famous French creation, Duck a L’Orange.  My May 2021 blog, “Lovely Lemons,” included the recipe for the classic Greek savory soup, Avgolemono, a chicken broth-based lemon soup.
 

 
The trade winds blow; two
Ripe oranges dangle in
The shadowy leaves.
 

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Oranges, along with all citrus fruits, originated in the southeastern Himalayan foothills in areas which are now India, Myanmar and China. Oranges evolved as a hybrid of mandarins and pomelos and are known to have grown in south central China eight million years ago. The orange tree is an evergreen, and interestingly, the orange blossoms themselves grow into the fruit during a process that can take between seven to fifteen months. A single orange tree can produce both blossoms and ripe fruit at the same time. Ripe oranges can remain on the tree for months without spoiling, and when picked, they are still sweet and juicy.
 

 
Birds of Paradise
Grow beneath the orange tree,
Covered with green fruit.
 

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An orange orchard in full bloom, covered with shimmering white blossoms filling the summer air with their heady floral fragrance, is a glorious experience for the sight and the other senses. Bees are a primary pollinator of orange blossoms, and Orange Blossom Honey is highly prized for its delicate flavor as well as its health benefits, including antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. A favorite sweet and savory dish here in Hawaii is Baked Salmon with Orange Blossom Honey and Miso glaze. Orange Blossom Honey is produced in France, Mexico, Israel, Spain and Italy, all countries where orange fruit also plays an important role in the local cuisine. In the United States, the biggest producers of both oranges and Orange Blossom Honey are California, Florida and Texas. World-wide, however, the most productive orange-growing countries are Brazil and China. There are varieties of oranges, the two most popular being Navel and Valencia. Both are seedless and bright orange in color, though Valencias have somewhat thinner skins. Many orange lovers seem to agree that Navels are sweeter and better for cooking, baking and eating by hand, while Valencias are juicier and better for squeezing your morning orange juice. And don’t forget that oranges love to be combined with chocolate. There is nothing more elegant and delightful than an Orange Pound Cake with a deep dark Chocolate Glaze.
 

 
In the clear, starry
Night, the Big Dipper points down
At an orange tree.

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Our website and blogs abound with orange and other citrus-flavored recipes, including my favorite Easy Orange Pound Cake which appears in the “A Calendar of Tea Parties: December, In Defense of Fruitcakes” in the Tea Book section of myteaplanner.com. Here are the recipes for some additional special citrus desserts from my blogs:
 

• April 2017: Orange Poppy Seed Cake
• September 2018: Lemon Tea Bread
• November 2019: Lemon Chess Pie
• October 2020: Flan with Candied Orange
• April 2021: Bolinhos de Laranja (Portuguese Little Orange Cakes)
• December 2022: Orange Ginger Cookies

 
For a recent family gathering, I dug into my old cake recipe file and baked an Orange Polenta Cake, which includes two fresh navel oranges, toasted ground almonds and polenta. I saved this recipe from the February 2009 edition of Gourmet Magazine and remembered that it is dense, rich and delicious, and that my husband Wayne loved it. At the time, I didn’t notice that the originator of this recipe is the Israeli super-chef, restauranteur and cookbook author, Yotam Ottolenghi, and that the recipe was adapted from his book, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. A few years after I baked this cake, I received as a gift which I still treasure, a copy of Ottolenghi’s now world-famous book, Jerusalem A Cookbook, which he co-authored with his friend and business partner, the Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi. This beautifully written and photographed book bursts with fresh, healthy and delicious recipes from Israel and Palestine, and I thought that now might be an appropriate time to point out how harmonious and compatible the cuisines of these two countries really are. I also noticed that the Jerusalem Cookbook includes two additional orange cake recipes that differ slightly from the orange Polenta Cake that appears in Ottolenghi’s previous book: Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake and Clementine and Almond Syrup Cake, which features a Dark Chocolate Glaze. Both of these will be fun to bake in the future, but for now, I’m happy to share with you the recipe for Orange Polenta Cake. 
 
Meanwhile, enjoy your summer vacations. I wrote the little poem below on a summer vacation at Lake Tahoe years ago. For this year’s summer vacation, Wayne and I will spend late May and early June in Okinawa, an area of Japan which we have never visited. I’ve been reading about all sorts of citrus fruits that grow in this tropical area and am looking forward to sharing our Okinawan food adventures with you later this summer.

 
Summer in the Mountains
 
The solstice brings innocent clouds
Like silky lingerie draping the pine’s
High shoulders. The air throbs
With the warm scent of resin,
And the Stellers Jays 
Are in their blue glory
While the Canada geese strut
On the deep lake’s shore.
Even the chipmunks
And the splendid little ants,
Scurrying among the pinecones,
Lupine and poppies,
Walk the Great Walk.

---

​Orange Polenta Cake
 

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In some respects, this luscious Israeli Orange Cake resembles the classic Pineapple Upside-Down Cake popular among North American bakers for decades. This recipe produces a one-layer nine-inch round cake which would look beautiful on a cake pedestal, showing off the topping of fresh orange slices embedded in caramel with a sparkling marmalade glaze. Adventurous home bakers might even want to give this recipe a French twist by using peeled Bosc Pears instead of oranges to create a Pear and Caramel Upside-Down Tart. 
 
I have made a few changes in Yotam Ottolenghi’s ingredients list to make the process a little simpler for American and Canadian bakers. The original recipe calls for superfine granulated sugar for both the caramel layer and the cake, two teaspoons of orange-flower water in the cake and quick-cooking polenta. If these ingredients are easy to find in your neighborhood, by all means, use them, but I am suggesting a simple brown sugar and butter caramel topping and a small amount of McCormick’s Pure Orange Extract instead of orange-flower water. I also used regular grocery store polenta, as I have difficulty finding quick-cooking polenta here in Hawaii. The effect will be a slightly crunchier texture in the cake, but this cake is not intended to be the light golden sponge cake we usually find in Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. The density of this Orange Polenta Cake comes from two cups of ground toasted almonds as well as the polenta. 
 
The introduction to this recipe which I found fifteen years ago in Gourmet Magazine states: “We love the way this one-of-a-kind dessert incorporates so many dimensions into a sophisticated whole.” I agree, and when you bake this cake for your family, you will be giving them a special gift. And don’t forget that orange and chocolate are best friends. You can wow your guests by serving this elegant cake with dark chocolate ice cream. When I baked it recently for a family dinner, small children were present (Willa and Giulia whom I love to babysit when I’m not writing, baking or traveling,) so I chose to eliminate the glaze, as not all children love orange marmalade, and instead I surrounded the cake with dark chocolate kisses, which all children love.
 

 
For the Caramel Orange Layer

• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
• 2 navel oranges

 
For the Cake

• 1 ¾ sticks (14 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon pure orange extract
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 cups toasted almonds, finely ground
• 2/3 cup polenta
• Baking spray and parchment for the pan

 
For the Glaze

• ¼ cup orange marmalade (I recommend Bon Maman)
• 1 tablespoon water 
• Dark chocolate ice cream for serving, optional

 
Special Equipment: 9-inch round springform pan, wire cooling rack, large mixing bowl, medium sized mixing bowl, flour sifter or sieve, large glass measuring cup, disposable kitchen gloves, citrus zester or hand grater, paring knife, cutting board, electric mixer, rubber spatula, food processor or grinder, parchment, offset spatula, foil-lined baking sheet, bamboo skewer, oven gloves, pastry brush, decorative platter or cake pedestal
 
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F.
 
Makes: 8-10 servings

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1. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Cut two layers of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan. Place the parchment layers into the pan, spraying each. Cut strips of parchment to line the inner sides of the pan, spray them and insert them into the pan. Set aside. Toast 2 cups of whole almonds on a foil-lined baking sheet in the 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times to prevent burning until the almonds just start to turn a light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. When the almonds have cooled, grind them in a food processor or grinder (I always use my trusty Ninja,) until they are very fine. Set aside.
2. Prepare the Caramel Orange Layer: Place 2/3 cup light brown sugar and 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces, into a large glass measuring cup, and microwave at 30-second intervals until the butter is melted. Stir to combine, and wearing disposable kitchen gloves, press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the prepared parchment-lined pan. Place a large sheet of parchment on the counter and grate the zest from both oranges (still wearing the gloves to prevent grating your knuckles,) onto the parchment. Focus only on the bright orange outer layer of the peel, not on the inner white pith. Reserve the zest for the cake batter. 
3. Using a paring knife, cut off all the remaining peel from both oranges removing all of the white membrane. Cut both oranges into thin round slices, removing as much of the connective membrane between the segments as possible. Then cut each round orange slice in half. Starting with the outside edge of the pan, gently press the orange pieces into the caramel layer making concentric circles of orange “half moons” in a decorative pattern to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Set aside.
4. Prepare the cake batter: Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the ground almonds and polenta and stir gently until the mixture is uniform. Set aside. Place 1 ¾ sticks of butter, cut into small chunks, and 1 cup of sugar into the large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until just combined. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange extract and the reserved orange zest and beat just until incorporated into the mixture.
5. Add the dry ingredient mixture and beat on low speed just until no flour, almonds or polenta are visible. The mixture will be thick.  Carefully spread the batter evenly over the caramel and orange layer, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Place the cake on the foil-lined baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated 350-degree oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. 
6. Run a kitchen knife around the inside between the pan and the parchment, and using oven gloves, as the pan will still be warm, invert the pan on a decorative platter or cake pedestal. Gently remove the parchment and prepare the glaze. Place ¼ cup orange marmalade and 1 tablespoon water in a large glass measuring cup and heat at 30-second intervals until the marmalade is melted. Stir to combine and brush the marmalade mixture over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature with dark chocolate ice cream if you wish. Leftover cake can be stored covered at room temperature.