Blood Orange Risotto

A year ago I tasted blood orange risotto, in one of my favourite restaurants Bas Bas, for the first time in my life. I've had the privilege to have it a couple of times since. I can still remember my first encounter as if it were yesterday. At first taste, it was just weird. I couldn't quite decide if I loved it or disliked it. I mean in No way did it taste bad. It was just that my tastebuds were not used to a orange risotto and my sense of smell was taking my path towards a sweet dish. It was like eating a savoury rice pudding. After the first mouthful I just had to go back for more and see how the taste would grow on me. I've had lemon risotto which I love so why was this any different than that? After my second mouthful I was already hooked and  I'm sure you will be too.

As soon as the blood orange season started this year I thought of exactly that risotto that I had eaten a year ago for the first time. I could still remember how I sat at the bar and enjoyed every single mouthful. The taste just lingered to my taste buds and made me want more. 

 I just had to try making some at home and it turned out great. I just Love it. 
A spoonful of my risotto and I was back at that bar counter. I could hear the sound of people chatting and laughing, Angus and Julia Stone playing in the background and the owner in his signature hat (which he always wears) smiling and asking "Isn't it just amazing?" Yes, amazing and weird at the same time?

I enjoyed every mouthful and didn't want it to end.

 Luckily for me I now had a whole potful of this creamy taste of heaven. I closed my eyes once again and smiled with every taste as Angus and Julia Stone's Big Jet Plane was now playing in my background... 

Bloodorange risotto

40g shallots

Olive oil 
Butter

300g risotto rice Vialone nano (you can also use arborio or carnaroli)

300ml blood orange juice (3 oranges)

zest from 1-2 oranges

900ml vegetable stock
Thyme

60g parmesan

Mascarpone
Salt

Wash the skin of 1-2 oranges and zest with a microplane or other zester. 
Squeeze the juice from all the oranges.
Finely chop the shallots.
In a saucepan/pot heat the butter and oil on low heat. Add the  shallots and fry until soft and translucent.
Add the rice and fry whilst stirring for a minute or two until translucent.
Add part of the orange juice and cook until absorbed. Throw in a small bunch of thyme (I tied mine together so it was easy to remove after cooking).
Add the hot stock one ladle at a time and let it absorb the liquid slowly on low heat. Make sure you don't pour all the stock at once. It is important to let the liquid absorb before adding more liquid. Add the rest of the orange juice. Cook for approximately 15 mins or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente (soft but with a bit of a bite to it). If the rice isn't cooked enough add more liquid. Season with salt.
Take off the heat, remove the thyme and add a bit of butter, zest, grated parmesan and a couple spoonfuls of mascarpone. Stir and let sit under a lid for 2 minutes. The risotto should now be oozy and creamy like you can see in better restaurants and not like the tough and sticky risottos we unfortunately see in too many restaurants. It should be a bit runny and not stay in a pile. By the time I took my photos it had already become a bit more dense so please make sure it looks more runny when you are done with yours for maximum pleasure.

For garnish add a bit of extra zest and a few thyme leaves. You can even grate a bit of extra parmesan and orange slices.

Lady Grey's Tea party (Tea Cake, Orange Curd & Orange Blossom Cream Cheese Frosting)

If Lady Grey were to have thrown me a Birthday party (which happened to be in the beginning of this month), I'm sure she would have invited me for this tea party.

One morning as I was sipping on my morning tea and thinking of what to bake, I really got caught into a proper tea moment. I had kind of an ahaa moment and thought why not make a tea cake. My thoughts went further into my cup as I started creating the story of Lady Grey's tea party as I was really inspired by the Lady Grey tea which I was drinking, which is a black tea with citrus notes. Perfect I thought...A tea party would naturally contain a orange marmalade. I then got so excited when one thought led to another. As it is Blood Orange season I would naturally want to make something out of this beautiful fruit. I ended up making the blood orange curd in my last post. The flavour and colour just was to die for.  Hmm, I thought, what else would Lady Grey have at her tea party other than tea, a tea cake and orange marmalade (in this case curd)? Naturally she would have flowers and a beautiful tea set...

And that is how I came up with this tea cake, infused with Lady Grey tea leaves, layers of blood orange curd and Creamy Orange Blossom cream cheese frosting.

How to make the cake:

Tea Milk:
2dl milk
1tbsp lady grey tea

Cake:
225g butter
1dl brown sugar (120g)
1dl granulated sugar (80g)
1tsp vanilla
4 eggs
orange zest
2 tsp of Lady Grey tea leaves2 teabags (crush in a pestle and mortar until very fine).
200g flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1dl milk (infused with lady grey tea)

Bring milk and tea to boil in a small pot over medium heat. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 mins. Strain.

In a pestle and mortar crush the tea leaves until very fine.

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and flour a 15cm cake tin and line with parchment paper..
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on a medium high until pale and fluffy. You can use just granulated sugar (200g) but I like to give a bit of flavour and colour using also brown sugar. Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla, tea leaves and orange zest.
In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda
In turns add the flour mix and the lady grey milk.
Bake for approximately 45-50 mins until the cake doesn't stick to a toothpick.
Place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely.

How to make Blood Orange Curd

2 dl blood orange juice (2 oranges)
zest from 2 oranges
1 dl sugar
3 egg yolks
pinch of salt
70g butter

Wash the oranges clean. With a zester, scrape the zest from both oranges and press the juice into a saucepan.  Reduce the juice to approximately half. Let it cool for 30 mins.
 In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until white and fluffy. Add the pinch of salt.
Pour the reduced juice into the egg mixture and whisk. Place the bowl over a bain marie and heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Remember to stir constantly not to end up with scrambled eggs. Add the cold butter nobs one at a time and stir.
Pour into a clean glass jar and store in the fridge.

Orange Blossom Cream Cheese Filling

500g cream cheese softened
250g mascarpone
150ml cream whipped
125g icing sugar
1/2 tsp -1 tsp orange blossom extract
peach or pink food colouring

With an electric mixer whisk together cream cheese, mascarpone, butter, icing sugar, food colouring and the orange blossom. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Let rest in the fridge for a while to get a better piping consistency.

Assemble the cake:

Cut the cake into three layers. On each layer spread Blood orange curd and then pipe rosettes of the orange blossom cream cheese frosting.
Decorate with figs, candied blood orange slices, some freeze dried raspberries. I would also have loved to decorate with some edible flower petals (example roses).

No unicorns were hurt in this photoshoot :D

Blood Orange Curd

If you were to ask me right now which fruit was my favourite I would definitely have to answer the blood orange. Blood oranges are here for a very short time so I feel like you have to take the most out of these tangy citrus fruits filled with a divine ruby red pulp during this short season. I can't help but be in love with the colour of the juice. Also it's really exciting every time you cut into one to see the colour or pattern revealed inside the thick orange skin. The flesh itself varies from a reddish orange to a deep, almost wine red and when mixed together to a juice to become a more coral red.
The colour just gets better when adding something pale to it such as cream, milk, butter or eggs. This I have to say is one of my favourite moments when the tone changes to a vibrant peach or a flamingo pink.
This year the first thing I made out of this exquisite fruit was a blood orange curd. I don't really like the word curd as it somehow doesn't sound very appealing, but I guess that's just the name of it :D nor am I usually a big fan of curds in general (store bought) as they tend to be too sweet and I just don't know what to do with them. However this curd is just so refreshing at the same time even if it's sweet. It's perfect to put inside as a cake filling, on top of donuts, swirled in with ice creams or even just spread on top of a piece of toast.
Even if I'm not such a big fan of sweet things the colour of this is just so amazing that you will just want to make a small batch yourself :)

How to make Blood Orange Curd

2 dl blood orange juice (2 oranges)
zest from 2 oranges
1 dl sugar
3 egg yolks
pinch of salt
70g butter

Wash the oranges clean. With a zester, scrape the zest from both oranges and press the juice into a saucepan.  Reduce the juice to approximately half. Let it cool for 30 mins.
 In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until white and fluffy. Add the pinch of salt.
Pour the reduced juice into the egg mixture and whisk. Place the bowl over a bain marie and heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Remember to stir constantly not to end up with scrambled eggs. Add the cold butter nobs one at a time and stir.
Pour into a clean glass jar and store in the fridge.

Later on you will also find out where I ended up putting this pastel spread of delight.