Pickled Fennel With Orange

I had great success with growing fennel this year. I used a lot in a simple fennel salad but also wanted to try pickling some after a very memorable meal that had pickled fennel.
I found a few recipes but really liked the look of this one because of the addition of orange.

Pickled Fennel with Orange
makes 1 500ml Jar.

Ingredients:
4 Medium Sized Bulbs of fennel, very thinly sliced (a mandoline is useful here).

1 Tsp Fine Sea Salt.

1 Orange for zest cut into thin strips.

6 Tbsp white wine vinegar.

6 Tbsp orange juice.

2 Tbsp sugar.

4 Whole black peppercorns, cracked.
A Couple Sprigs of Fennel Tops (optional).

What to Do:

Toss the sliced fennel in a shallow bowl with the salt. Let them stand for one hour.

Meanwhile, sterilize your jar(s), lid(s), and ring(s). You can do this in a water bath canner if you have one or if you don't just use a very deep wide stock pot with one of those old fashioned metal steamers laid out in the bottom. This will keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so they don't break. Fill the pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Using a pair of tongs with rubber bands wrapped around the ends to prevent slippage, carefully place the jars, lids and rings in the water in batches so they fit comfortably with 1 to 2" of water above the jars and boil/sterilize for about 15 minutes. Carefully lift jars, lids and rings out of the water and set aside on a clean, dry surface. Sterilized!

If any brine exists in the bowl after this time, drain and toss the slices with the orange zest. Pack them into a sterilized pint jar, placing a fennel sprig or two against the side of the jar is using.

In a saucepan, heat the vinegar, orange juice, sugar and peppercorns over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel, leaving 3/4" of head space at the top of the jar. 

Secure rims and lids on the jars and place back in the boiling water to ensure seal for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from the water and allow to set and cool to room temperature. You may hear a "ping" noise coming from the jars - this is an excellent sign. Once cool, check to make sure the rings have in fact sealed and refrigerate any that don't.

Those that are sealed can be stored for many weeks while any open jars should be used within a week or two.

Middle Eastern Orange Cake - recipe

I had a friend coming for lunch who was gluten intolerant. After a previous disastrous lunch where I tried to make gluten free bread, I decided to take a different approach today.

Today's lunch was a rotisserie chicken (not based in soy sauce because even that has gluten in it!), salads and a baked layered potato dish (I used sliced fennel in the layers which was nice but not a strong flavour). 

We tried something new with the chicken and soaked it in brine (salty water), lemon on herbs for a day, then dried it out in the fridge overnight. I then just based with olive oil and garlic salt when it was cooking. It turned out beautifully. It looks burned in the picture but it was more smokey charred. It's a really good and easy way to cook it.

This was followed by a Middle Eastern Orange cake that was made using ground almond meal rather than flour. The really interesting part of the cake was that the recipe starts with 2 whole oranges simmered for 2 hours in water. This is not something I had come across before. They came out really soft, but not mushy...almost like cutting through butter.

The cake gets added to the 'make again' list. It was a cross between a cake and a pudding and despite having almond meal instead of flour, still had a reasonably light consistency. It looked quite dry before I cut into it but was wonderfully moist.

I served it with greek yoghurt made in the yoghurt maker and peeled orange segments.

Middle Eastern Orange Cake

Ingredients

Serves: 10

• 5 large oranges
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2¼ cups ground almonds
• 1¼ cups caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup plain low-fat yoghurt

Preparation method

Prep: 30 minutes | Cook: 3 hours

1.

Wash 2 of the oranges and place in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Allow the oranges to cool, then cut open, remove the pips and roughly chop the flesh.

2.

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Grease and flour a 22-cm springform tin. Process the cooked oranges, eggs, ground almonds, sugar and baking powder in a food processor.

3.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour or until the centre is firm (note that this is a very moist cake). Cool in the tin before gently turning out.

4.

Peel the remaining oranges with a small paring knife. Separate the orange segments from the membranes. Serve the cake with the fresh orange segments and some yoghurt on the side.

Spanish Orange and Rosemary Chicken - Recipe

This recipe is a family favourite which I had not made for a while. It comes from Nici Wickes 'World Kitchen' which is one of my regular 'go to' recipe books - of predominantly chicken recipes.

The beauty of this dish for me is that the marinade can quickly be made the night before so it is ready to cook when I get home from work. It is ideal with a salad and cous cous (flavoured with chicken stock and orange juice)

Not the best presentation in the photo...but the taste makes up for it!

Spanish Orange and Rosemary Chicken

8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

1 tbspn olive oil

1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp brown sugar

1 clove crushed garlic (I just use a microplane for this)

1 tbspn finely chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cut slashes into the meat to allow marinade in and put all ingredients in a large shallow dish.

Cover and put in fridge for 30 mins (overnight is great).

Bake in ovenproof dish for 45 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Baste occasionally with marinade.

I served it with cauliflower mash...cooked cauliflower in chicken stock, blended with freshly ground pepper and grated cheese. Bella (3) tried it and loved it!