Fusion Fish En Papillote (En Masse)

So the whole fusion came to me when I read this article on Betty Lui and her blog called le juice d'orange on Facebook. I follow her and the article, found here  is about fusing  her Chinese and American identities and heritage into into her food life. This fusion is found in her beautiful and unique recipes, see her Facebook page here. I have shared number of her recipes on my Facebook page found here, as well she has some really neat fusion recipes with some ingredients that you wouldn't think we'll go together. So that was my starting off point I was going to make a salmon en papillote and I decided to change it up a bit and try something a little different; the flavours sounded a bit weird but in the end it tasted wonderful. 

I used the classic French flavours found in en papillote, call it a sort of salmon nicoise-ish flavours like olives, tomatoes, onions and citrus and then I added an Asian twist with the lemongrass, sambal oelek and changing the citrus from a lemon to using a lime. 

So don't be afraid to try new flavors sure it may not always turn out that great but you won't know if you don't try; sometimes you may think it sounds a bit weird but in the end your taste buds may disagree; and really it's a taste buds that matter not your brain.

Fusion Fish En Papillote 

• 1 – 350-500g whole fillet of salmon or individual portions totalling about the same
• Couple of tablespoons (aka a good glug) olive oil
• 5 sundried tomato halves, coarsely chopped
• 1 med onion thinly sliced into rings
• ¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives (or your favourite variety)
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste) – or to taste
• 2 medium limes, thinly sliced in rounds
• 2 pieces of lemongrass, outermost husk removed and lightly split (bang it against the counter)
• Fresh herbs – Thai basil would be my first choice, pictured I used thyme and sage, as that was all I had on hand
• Salt and pepper – to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Set out your cut parchment paper on a baking sheet (if you are doing the individual packets, divide all the ingredietns amongst each packet), add one of the sliced limes onto the middle or slightly off-centre of the parchment.
3. Add the fish fillet on top of the lime, then layer on the onion across the whole fillet, scatter on the garlic, olives and sundried tomato and remaining lime slices.
4. Place the lemongrass pieces on either side of the fillet.
5. Dot the whole thing with the sambal oelek, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Finally dredge on the olive oil across the whole fillet.
7. Roll up the packet by starting at one end and folding over and across until you have a nice covered packet, folding the ends under.
8. Bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillet (if thicker bake for 5-7 min more.) Let it rest out of the oven for about 5-7 minutes before you open the packet. Open carefully as hot steam will be released. Enjoy!

I had a whole salmon fillet in the freezer and by the time I'd defrosted it (safely in the fridge, then in the sink with cold water) it had gotten slightly mushy and wasn't ideal to cut it up into individual serving sized fillets, so I simply used the whole thing and made a whole large en papillote out of it! See great directions for wrapping fish en papilotte (and a bonus recipe) from Canadian Living here.

Sambal Oelek - a fresh chili paste type of sauce - it's very spicy, use sparingly, or at least try it first before slathering it on!

The next day I put together a fried rice stir-fry-fry sort of deal with edamame and plenty of vegetables along side the salmon, which I drizzled with a bit of hoisin sauce- and that turned out really nice too.

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

Black Bean Quesadillas

For Meatless Monday today, the day before Cinco de Mayo, I'm sharing my recipe for Bean Quesadillas. Well, really it was a non-recipe until I took the time to write it out. I can't remember when I made this up; I've been  making versions of this for years. Every time I serve it to anyone they comment on how good it is and it's so easy and quick to put together. Chances are you have everything you need in your pantry or fridge.

Customize the herbs and spices to your taste and of course choose your favourite toppings!

Black Bean Quesadillas

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

½ -3/4 cup medium prepared salsa (or to taste)

½ tablespoon vegetable oil

1 small onion (diced)

1 small bell pepper (any colour) (diced)

1 clove garlic (minced)

1-1½ teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ -½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ -1 teaspoon cumin

Fresh chopped cilantro, to taste

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Flour tortillas

 

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add onion, garlic and bell pepper, sauté for several minutes until onion is translucent and pepper is tender crisp.

 

2. Add beans and then spices and mix to combine, heat until beans are warm. Add salsa, adding more if necessary to make the mixture slightly saucy, but still chunky. Cook until heated through and slightly bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro.

Sometimes I switch it up by subbing zucchini for the peppers. Those black strips are kombu (kelp) - I'll explain those in a separate post (they get taken out before eating.)

 

3. In a separate non-stick skillet on medium heat (use the same burner), place a tortilla and fold it over. Sprinkle some cheese on the half tortilla, top with bean mixture, then add more cheese. Fold over the tortilla. 

4. Repeat with a second one in the same pan. Once the first side is brown, carefully flip over and brown the other side.

 

This is a much less messy way to cook the quesadillas and flip them. As well they cut nicely without too much of the filling oozing out!

5. Once done, place on cutting board and cut with a pizza cutter (or knife), serve with your favorite toppings and additional salsa if desired.

By the way, the filling is a great anything goes recipe, it doesn't have to be used exclusively for quesadillas. You can use it burritos and roll them up or as pictured below I used it with corn tortillas spread with some guacamole; really yummy!

 

Have a Happy Cinco de Mayo!

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

Epic Kitchen Disaster

I shared this a couple of weeks ago with my online community of writers from a writing class I was involved in. One of our assignments was to tell a story about our worst kitchen disaster. At that time (early Februrary) I didn't have one, so I simply shared ones from people I know. To learn more about the Luscious Legacy Project, see this link: 

http://consciousbitesnutrition.com/the-luscious-legacy-project/

(As an aside, I highly recommend this writing circle for women who are interested in exploring their own food history and sharing with others from around the world. You recognize how similar we all are.)

Please take this as a Public Service Announcement; a reverse how-to: what not to do. And please make it a habit to check your smoke detectors regularly! 

So my chapter on kitchen disasters now has an epic story! Well it is to me; I set fire to my toaster oven, more precisely the tortilla in my toaster oven.

I was trying to be so good and instead of eating chips or the like, last night I decided to make cinnamon tortilla chips and use the toaster oven to be fast. It was going great and looked lovely after the toast cycle, but I wanted it to be a little bit crispier. So I set it again and went back to watching the show I had on TV. I sheepishly say it was Family Feud and it was one of those inane questions that I just HAD to find out what the answers were. 

Well...

big mistake, let this be a lesson...to me! Never leave a toaster oven unattended when you've got a hot buttered tortilla in there. 

Burned to a crisp - cinders I say. I had to wait until the flame died out (well my fire fighter aka husband came to the rescue, but seriously he was right on the next counter cutting up fruit, how did he not smell it with that nose of a blood hound??) 

So we had all the windows and front door open at almost 10 o'clock at night trying to get the blasted smoke smell out (out darned smoke, out.) At least we got around to testing our smoke detectors because they did not buzz; maybe it wasn't that bad? 

Oh no, it's bad! 

This morning I've got a pot of kitchen potpourri on the stove and several candles burning (I was a little reluctant to see flames again...) I keep dropping bits of this and that into the pot hoping it'll be the magic scent. By the end of it, after layering ingredients and scents I'll have a veritable witches brew of herbs, spices and citrus peels fit for any spell! And it's slowly smelling better in here! 

Kind of... 

Oh well I guess I'll have to bake something to mask it! ;)

This is what my crispy sweet tortillas were supposed to look like.

Here's the link to the recipe I took inspiration from to make these; do as it says, not as I do. 

http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_3/2012/NOV/12865.html

Moral of the story: don't put butter on high in the toaster oven and always keep an eye on cooking food!! Plus when you make these in the oven you can make a lot more!

Epilogue: The smoke detector was fine when we tested it. 

Weeks later I can still smell a faint smokiness when I turn the microwave on - I really have to soak those hood fan grills! 

A good reminder to be mindful, not just while cooking, but in everything we do.

We've been living just fine without a toaster oven...not sure that we need one anymore. :)

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

Crispy crunchy chewy chocolatey bites (a.k.a. Saturday night chocolatey nibbles)

Chocolatey cereal bites full of toffee and coconut. Takes minutes to make and come to think of it, will probably take mere minutes to eat too!

I've read other food bloggers who have this problem too: chocolate goodies do not photograph well! I agree, it's hard to make a brown blob look appealing. It is what it is, these don't look great, but they do taste great - hits that chocolate and that crunchy craving. I guess it's good to stand by the old adage of don't judge by appearances!

Crispy crunchy chewy chocolatey bites (aka Saturday Night Chocolatey Nibbles)

1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups crisp rice cereal

1/2 cup toffee bits

1-2 tbsp coconut flakes (depending on flavour and chewiness preference)

Melt chocolate chips on 50% power in a medium microwave safe bowl for 2-3 minutes; checking and stirring after each minute. Stop microwaving once most of the chips melt after stirring through. 

Quickly add the cereal, toffee bits and coconut flakes and stir well to combine.

Mound by generous heaping tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet or large plate lined with parchment/wax paper. Alternatively, press into a square cake pan lined with parchment. 

Cool in the fridge for about 1/2 hour, maybe 45 minutes for the square pan.

If pressed into the square cake pan, on a chopping board, carefully cut into portions (you choose the size!) with a sharp knife. Store on the counter in a covered container.

Alternatively: eat it straight from the bowl; but they do taste better and the crunch is more dramatic after cooling.

Yield: It's up to you how many you want make and how big you make each portion to share or hoard...umm, I mean save.

Don't forget, you get to lick the spoon! Enjoy!

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015

Egg-cellent Muffins

A friend of mine shared this recipe at a healthy snack exchange I participated in last year. I've adapted and renamed and made it my own. Feel free to add some cooked diced chicken, small cooked beans or even cooked ground meat. These are great on a bunch table, as a quick breakfast on the go or a nice protein-filled snack. 

These freeze well and are great for crazy mornings. Simply pop into the microwave and you're good to go! Speaking of freezing, for this recipe I used cooked quinoa that I had frozen. Cook quinoa as desired and let it thoroughly cool down. I like freezing it in freezer bags and then flattening the pack; this way once it's frozen you can simply break off a chunk in the size you need. I find flattened food takes less time thawing than when it's in a big chunk. Alternatively, measure out portions into containers and freeze.

Mini Quinoa Quiches

1 cup cooked quinoa (any variety) 
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 green onions, sliced (both white/green part)
1/4 cup parsley (or cilantro)
1/2 cup chopped roasted red pepper
2 Tbsp cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 10-12 muffin tins with your choice of oil (canola, olive, coconut oil etc.) or use silicon liners. 

2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. 

3. Spoon the mixture to the top of each cup. 

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges of the cups are golden brown. Let cool for at least five minutes before removing from the muffin tin. Serve with lemon or salsa if desired.

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2016.

Breakfast for Dinner featuring Potatoes and Greens

This is a quick go-to meal I make when I'm fresh out of ideas; it's also a wonderful way to use up whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. Mix and match to clean out the crisper. Mushrooms would be fantastic in this in place of the greens, or in addition to. Try it once as written, then make it your own, it's a highly adaptable basic recipe, I myself have adapted it from a recipe I was inspired by in an old cookbook. And I never make it the same way twice!

Vegetable Frittata

 

1 sweet potato or regular potato (or as i do, a combo of both) (~ 250g)

2 cups chopped broccoli (or whatever greens you have on hand, pictured is Swiss chard, don't cook leafy greens for long - add them to the pan just before adding eggs - I use a lot of spinach and chard)

4 eggs

4 egg whites

½ tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsp vegetable oil

¼ cup chopped green onions or finely chopped yellow onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried tarragon or dried oregano

¼ cup shredded fontina cheese (or other preferred cheese)

¼ cup fresh basil for sprinkling on top (optional)

 

1. Peel potato; cut into ½ inch cubes. Place in steamer basket over boiling water; cover and cook for 5 minutes. 

2. Add broccoli; cook, covered, for 4 minutes or until potato is tender and broccoli is tender-crisp; set aside. If using leafy greens do not add them at this step.

3. Meanwhile, in bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, salt and pepper; set aside. 

4. In 9-inch (23 cm) ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium heat; cook onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and tarragon, stirring, for about 2 minutes or until softened. 

5. Spread sweet potato mixture in skillet; add leafy greens if using instead of broccoli in at this point and sauté for a couple of minutes.

I forgot to add the Swiss chard in before I added the egg mixture, do as I say, not as pictured... ;)

6. Pour egg mixture over top. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook for about 12 minutes or until bottom is golden and edge is set but center still jiggles slightly. 

7. Sprinkle with cheese; broil for 2 to 3 minutes or until light golden and cheese is bubbly. 

8. Sprinkle with basil just before serving. Enjoy as is or with toast or pita in the side. 

I don't eat cheese too often, so I simply broiled it without cheese on my half and with cheese for my husband's portion :)

Makes 4 servings. 

Adapted from an old cookbook, Canadian Living’s Best: Quick Suppers.

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

Saying Adios to Winter and Hello to Spring

A great recipe to use up the last of the winter roots, along with a little nod to the vibrant colours of spring!

I know the ingredient list looks long, but it really isn't, I've put all the direction for ingredient prep beside it. And honestly, use whatever vegetables you have on hand, that's how I made this up. Cook all the "harder" vegetables first, then add the ones that take less time to cook up.

Root Veg and Chicken Hash – One Pot Recipe 

2 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 small sweet potato, scrubbed and chopped into 1 inch pieces

5 regular red radishes, quartered

A handful of nugget potatoes, any variety, thoroughly washed

4 medium carrots, scrubbed and chopped into 1 inch slices

Asparagus, 1 bunch use only the top 1/3 of it (save the rest for another use)

1-2 large leaves of Swiss chard (chop the stalks up into ½ inch pieces; roughly chop the leaves)

1 medium onion, chopped coarsely

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon oil (vegetable, canola, or olive)

1-2 tablespoons vinegar, your favourite variety, (I used balsamic)

1 ½ cups of low sodium chicken stock

Fresh cooking herbs, 1 sprig of each (I used rosemary and thyme; I actually used these fresh herbs that I had washed and frozen in Ziploc bags, I find herbs turn faster than I can use them up, so freezing works well for me)

1 teaspoon (or maybe a little bit more) dried Italian seasoning (just the herbs only variety, no salt added)

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon pepper (or more to taste)

½ teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

Pinch ground cumin

Pinch ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon cornstarch

4-5 sage leaves (fresh or as above, fresh-frozen) – chopped in a chiffonade for garnish or parsley 

1. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large skillet and cook onion for 2-3 minutes until starting to get translucent; then add chicken and garlic and cook until chicken is no longer pink and is slightly browned. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar; stir and pick up any brown bits sticking to the bottom of skillet.

2. To the skillet, add the root vegetables (all vegetables except the asparagus and the swiss chard), 1 cup of the chicken stock, ¼ cup of water, the fresh cooking herbs, and all the spices, salt and seasonings. 

3. Cover and cook on medium for 10-12 minutes and then check the tenderness of the turnips and carrots. Just before these vegetables become fork tender, add in the asparagus and the Swiss chard leaves and stalks. Add the remaining ½ cup of chicken stock.

4. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, until the carrots and turnip are cooked through and the asparagus is fork tender. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water to make a slurry; add to skillet and mix well once the vegetables are cooked.

5. Taste and season as needed. Garnish with sage or parsley.

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

What's My Beef

Those of you been following along on the Kooks in the Kitchen Facebook page (find it here: http://facebook.com/kitchenkooksedm)  might know that I post a lot of chicken and fish dishes and that I don't do a lot of beef just because I really don't eat much beef; maybe a couple of times a month and I favor ground beef over steak and the like.

There's nothing wrong with beef, I just don't really like it much, beef is a fattier meat and it's harder to digest, especially for those with pre-existing digestive issues, so that may be a part of the reason that I don't much like it. I think our bodies naturally and inherently know what works for us; as they say "gut instincts" or "trust your gut," truly your body tells you what you need and what you don't like.

Having said this, once in a while I do get cravings for beef, for red meat I guess you could say, and at those times I just have to have a burger. Obviously my body is telling me I need more iron likely, among other nutrients that are found in beef. Beef is also a very high source of protein and Vitamin B12. So I listen to my body and eat beef!

Trim all visible fat from the boneless blade steak or sirloin steak portion.

I made up this recipe on one of those beef craving times, and you know how much I love Mediterranean flavours, and that just doesn't stop with the baked goods. So to make the beef more palatable to myself, I figured Mediterranean-izing it would be the way to go. I did that by adding various herbs as well as lemons and my good old hummus.

I didn't have any chickpeas that day to make my own hummus, but I did have these President's Choice single serve portions of hummus. I had one left and I jazzed it up by sprinkling with some sumac.

I like this Garlic and Herb flavour of Mrs. Dash sodium-free seasoning. It's a great all purpose seasoning for meat dishes, vegetable sautés and it's fantastic on roasted potato wedges.

Mediterranean Beef Pitas

1 medium onion, thinly sliced 

1 red pepper, sliced

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 

2 cups fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped 

2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil (divided)

Lemon (zested, then juice from half of it)

450g beef, boneless blade or sirloin steak (or your favourite cut) thinly sliced

1 tsp Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb sodium-free seasoning 

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Garnishes/toppings:

Hummus, at least 2 tbsp/person 

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped

1 tomato, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2-3 leaves romaine lettuce, coarsely sliced/torn

1/3 long English cucumber, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

pitas, mini naans (see photo) or tortillas

I had these President's Choice mini naans in the freezer and I used these...hmmm two PC products, maybe I should get them to sponsor this post! 

1. In a skillet, with one teaspoon of the oil, stir fry the steak and garlic until meat is no longer pink. Remove to bowl and keep warm.

2. To the same pan, add the remaining oil and stir fry the onions and red pepper. Once the onions have become slightly translucent and the pepper is still tender crisp, add back in the beef and any juices. Stir in all the seasonings and spices, including the lemon zest and juice.

3. Stir fry it all for a couple of minutes to combine flavours. Add in the spinach and continue cooking until spinach is heated through and just wilted.

4. Serve on warmed naans or pitas spread with hummus and your choice of toppings!

© Kooks in the Kitchen. 2015.

Orange & Olive (the latter being of the oil & complexion variety)

My genes would tell you I'm Scottishtani (well some version of Anglo-Saxon mixed with Southeast Asian) but if you looked into my heart it would definitely be Mediterranean. With an olive complexion and dark hair, I'm often mistaken for being of Mediterranean heritage: Italian, Spanish, something along that line - and that's fine with me, although I do correctly tell people what my ethnicity is. I don't mind because I love all kinds of Mediterranean foods and you'd see evidence of this in my kitchen: hummus is a staple, tzatziki, Zatar spice, garlic in everything, mint on everything, pomegranate molasses and the list goes on and on. I recently bought a cookbook on Mediterranean cooking and was quite surprised to find out how big of an area "the Mediterranean" covers by way of the cuisine; all the way into some of the eastern African countries. Funny how when you read you learn something new :)

The other night being a little bit bored - I didn't feel like reading, there wasn't anything good on TV, I didn't feel like washing the dishes...you get the idea. I was feeling a little unsettled and nothing, to me, is more grounding then baking. The whole process: finding the recipe, taking out the ingredients, making your adjustments, measuring, mixing, pouring, watching science at work in the oven, smelling, tasting!

I decided to search for something to make and I got it into my head that I needed to make a citrus cake of some sort. I love citrus of all kinds: oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, oh my, limes! Citrus season is in full swing right about now and you can get a lovely array of all kinds of citrus fruits. Now I'm not a big lover of cakes, I just never have been; too sweet, too heavy, too something that I can't quite put my finger on. Muffins, on the other hand, I love! Somehow they're not as pretentious: I feel like cake, and cupcakes in particular, are the snobbish and snooty cousin of the humble muffin. 

This is quite surprising because I'm known for baking cupcakes, baking lovely, wonderfully looking cupcakes in fact (and I must add wonderfully tasting ones too.) I find cupcakes lend themselves well to baking as well as artistic creativity, I like decorating them, I'm not a big fan of eating though: there's science and there's art involved in baking and with cupcakes you can display both. And of course people ooh and ahh and flutter over a beautiful cupcake.

But muffins, muffins are for me. Muffins as I mentioned are the humble cousin; usually looked upon lowly and religated to breakfast bread basket, not the delightful dessert at the end of the meal. Not as sweet, not always as pretty looking, but when you get right down to it they're the meat and bones of baking. They can be made grandiose, popping out with all sorts of exotic ingredients or they can simply be a good nourishing full-of fruit-and-fibre snack.

I was looking for something in between.

And now back to the Mediterranean thing: I wanted a muffin that used olive oil, specifically an orange olive oil that I just bought from the Italian Center. I had selected it for my class on salads in which I did a game, having participants guess the different types of oils and I knew this orange olive oil would be perfect in a baked good, cakes yes, but I think a muffin would be just as lovely, or even more so. A muffin would be able to showcase the orange, the subtle notes in the olive oil and wouldn't be overpowered with the sweetness and icing, the over-stuffing, in my opinion, of a cupcake.

I found a number of lovely muffin recipes with olive oil, many of them different variations of Giada de Laurentis recipe (her recipe from the Food Network is here.) The proportions of flour to oil didn't quite feel right to me - I thought they'd feel like too cake-like to the taste. I then came across this recipe on my Facebook newsfeed and liked the ingredients and amounts. I looked through my pantry, tinkered with the recipe; pretty well turning it upside down and came up with this beauty. The texture and crumb of my kind of cake, but the demureness of a muffin - not too sweet, with subtle, not overpowering flavours - just what I was looking for!

Now I had some lemons and even a lime - those would have made lovely muffins - but I chose the last blood orange I had left from my shopping trip last week. Blood oranges are beautiful the sweetness of an orange and the deep colour of a Rio star grapefruit. Just look at it!

And look at the juice from it; blood red indeed.

Thank you to Heather's French Press for her Meyer Lemon Muffins, the inspiration for my recipe here. And isn't that how all great recipes are formed, they're handed down from one master to the next each adding their own little bit, pinch of this, take out that and it becomes their own new version.

Here's my recipe for orange, olive oil and pignoli (pine nut) muffins - did you catch my little hint when "I said pine for these muffins" in the sneak peek that I gave you on the Facebook page? I'm a writer I like playing with words: puns, alliteration, onomatopoeia, all of that sort of thing...

Orange, Olive Oil and Pignoli Muffins

1 ¼ cups cake and pastry flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup sugar, white or raw (add 1-2 tablespoons more if you like a sweeter muffin)

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon salt

1 blood orange – zest from the whole orange and

Juice from ½ of the blood orange (a regular orange would be fine here as well, but if you can find a blood red please try it!)

1 egg, slightly beaten

250 ml of milk (any kind – I used half dairy and half rice milk)

50 ml of orange flavoured olive oil (or any other citrus flavour, or other light olive oil)

Pignoli (pine nuts) for decorating the top (optional)

Raw sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

  

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease muffin pan or use silicone or paper liners (silicone recommended for cleanest removal.)
2. With a whisk, combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add in orange zest, the juice, egg, milk and olive oil.
4. Stir until the dry ingredients are mixed in – do not over-mix, muffin batter should be lumpy.
5. Divide into muffin tins; fill only about 2/3 full.
6. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and the raw sugar, as desired.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and the pine nuts are nicely toasted.
8. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

These are lovely for breakfast with a smear of marmalade or as a snack with tea just as is!

Yield 12 large muffins (I managed to eek out 14 slightly smaller ones; you can save the extra 2 for yourself, no one has to know about those!)

Who's humble and lowly now? Look at this beaut!

Now that's done, I'm going back to finishing my tea and muffin. Happy Baking! Ith gu leòir! 

Copyright Kooks in the Kitchen 2015. All rights reserved.