Culinary Trend: Blood Oranges

Every so often, various ingredients and dishes go into vogue. Recently, foods such as kale and chia seeds made their way to the culinary forefront by way of blogs, magazines, and health fads.

Now, I'm noticing a previously obscure fruit that is gaining popularity in the foodie world– that is to say, the blood orange. Popping up in blogs and grocery stores alike, this underrated citrus is finally finding its way into America's kitchens.

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Blood orange gets its name (unsurprisingly) from its dark, blood-red fruit that distinguishes it from its cousin, the navel orange. In terms of taste, the two are relatively similar; though personally I find the blood orange to be a little more on the sour side (a subtle distinction from the navel orange's acidity) with a unique aftertaste. Of course, the taste is contingent on the orange's specific cultivar. When in season, many blood orange varieties boast a noticeable sweetness defining their taste.  

Now, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to citrus fruits– I love to eat my oranges and grapefruits raw and unsweetened, or freshly pressed. However, these blood orange inspired recipes and foods are good enough to make me break my rule:

Talenti Blood Orange Sorbetto

Blood Orange Cake 

Recipe here.

Blood Orange Sangria

Recipe here.

Blood Orange & Clementine Galette

Recipe here. 

Goat Cheese Crostini with Blood Orange Marmalade

 Recipe here.

Christmas Morning Brunch: Raspberry Compote

This Christmas morning, I told my mom I wanted to cook a nice brunch for my family. I ended up making Quiche Lorraine (à la Julia Child), with bacon and toast on the side. To accompany the toast, I wanted to try cooking something that I'd never made before– raspberry compote.

I'd seen chefs make a simple syrup on my favorite TV show, Chopped, a thousand times before. So I figured I could use that technique to make a simple syrup compote from raspberries, sugar, and water.

This was my method: I took a cup of frozen raspberries and mixed them with about two tablespoons of water, then put them in the microwave to thaw. After, I put the raspberry mixture in a sauté pan on low heat. Once the mixture started to steam a little, I started slowing adding in a cup of sugar while stirring.

I let the compote simmer until it had reached the consistency I wanted (taking about 8 minutes on low heat). Once the compote was done, I put it in a glass jar and stuck it in the fridge for five minutes so it would thicken a little.

Finally, it was the moment of truth– I spread my compote on a slice of toast, and took a bite. It ended up being absolutely delicious!

This compote was very quick and easy to make, and the recipe can be adapted for other fruits. But for those of you who don't have as much of a "wing-it" attitude about cooking as I do, here's an actual recipe for simple syrup. Happy Cooking!

UPDATE: For the sake of culinary clarity, I'd like to rename this as a "compote" rather than a jam. While the two terms are similar, jam refers to a sweet fruit jelly made with gelatin; whereas a compote is a simple syrup cooked with fruit.