how to supreme an orange | apt 2b baking co.

Supremed citrus fruit is a beautiful garnish for all sorts of citrusy dishes – sweet & savory- and will make your fruit salads look classy as hell. The video below illustrating how to supreme an orange is the first in a new video series that Pete and I are tackling together. It will be full of basic kitchen techniques, and little how-tos - like how to frost a cake, roll out pie crust, and make rough puff pastry. I am so excited to share it with you today! Knowing how to confidently supreme any sort of citrus fruit is such a great back pocket technique that will make you look and feel fancy in the kitchen.

A few of my favorite recipes in Sweeter off the Vine call for supremed citrus fruit (grapefruit jam and a citrusy cake) too. While I did my best to describe how to do it in words, I think a visual reference is the best way to show this sort of technique. Let me know what you think in the comments, and let me know what techniques you'd like to see in this series too.

SOME NEWSY ANNOUNCEMENTS

The winner of the Sweeter off the Vine Mega Giveaway has been notified, thanks to everyone for entering! The Tasting Rome Giveaway is still open, all you have to do is leave a comment to enter.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Keep an eye on the events tab for events all Spring and Summer long!

I have two events to celebrate Sweeter off the Vine in New York this week, and I would love to see you all there.

Wednesday, April 6, 6:30-8:30pm

West Elm Market Brooklyn, NY

New York friends, please join me at the launch party for Sweeter off the Vine! We'll have treats and snacks, and a glass of something bubbly, all donated by my friends at Fresh Direct. Come say hello, I'll also be giving out hugs and hi-fives! Books available for purchase. please rsvp.

Saturday, April 9, 1-3pm

Whisk Brooklyn, NY

Book Signing, plus treats!

And I couldn’t leave you all without a little recipe to use your new orange supremes, if you haven't eaten them already. This granita is super easy to throw together and so stunningly gorgeous. It is bitter and sweet, tart and cooling. Granitas are a wonderful, light dessert, and they look beautiful with some supreme citrus on top.

Blood Orange and Campari Granita

makes about 3 cups

The bitter, herbaceous notes of Campari play so nicely with sweet/tart blood oranges for a light and refreshing dessert that is super easy to make. Substitute Aperol for the Campari for a slightly sweeter treat.

2 cups water, divided

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

1/4 cup Campari

orange supremes to serve

Add one cup of the water and the sugar to a saucepan. Cook over medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the remaining water, blood orange juice, and Campari. Transfer the mixture to a glass baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and freeze. Every 30 mins or so, scrape the surface of the mixture with a fork until it is completely frozen. Serve with supremes of citrus fruit on top.

video by Pete Lockhart

roasted quince crumb cake | apt 2b baking co

I'm so excited to share a new video with you today, along with the recipe for this amazing and very easy crumb cake! It's the kind of recipe I know I will make over and over again, switching out the fruit and maybe adding some warm spices, depending on the season. I saw this cake, which is by the legendary Fergus Henderson, pop-up on the Herriot Grace blog last month and immediately thought to make it with quince. I used the roasted quinces from The Violet Bakery Cookbook, which is one of my very favorite books from this fall's releases. This recipe makes for the most vibrantly hued quince I've ever cooked. They were practically neon!

The cake itself has a very dense crumb and a generous amount of sandy, crumbly topping which is nicely offset by lots of fruit. It would be the perfect thing to serve at a holiday brunch and you could definitely bake it a day ahead of time.

Quince Crumb Cake

adapted from Fergus Henderson via Herriot Grace

This cake was originally made with sliced rhubarb, but you could substitute an equal quantity of just about any fruit. Nikole made this cake with gorgeous pluots, but I imagine that plums would also be lovely or apples, pears, or even sweetened fresh cranberries. Use your imagination! The original recipe calls for macerating the fruit with a bit of sugar and citrus zest, for this version I just added a bit of the syrup leftover in the quince pan after roasting to mimic the juices that would have accumulated after roasting the fruit.

Cake

one pound roasted quince, cut into 1-inch pieces (recipe follows)

3 tablespoons quince syrup (from the roasting pan)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

scant 2/3 cup sugar or caster sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups self rising flour

pinch salt

scant 1/4 cup whole milk

Crumble

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup ground almonds

pinch salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly stream in the eggs and beat until well combined. Fold in the flour and salt, followed by the milk.

To make the crumble, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter and mash the mixture together with your fingertips until well combined and like wet sand.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, top with the quince and their syrup. Spread the crumble over the top evenly.

Bake the cake until golden and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes. If the crumble gets too dark before the cake cooks, tent the pan with foil.

Serve warm with creme fraiche, whipped cream or ice cream.

Roasted Quince

from Claire Ptak's Violet Bakery Cookbook

This recipe makes beautiful rosy quince that are quite tart, due to the generous amount of lemon juice. When cooked this way the quince hold their shape quite well making them perfect for all sorts of uses. This book was written with gram measurements in mind so they are listed below, as in the original recipe.

4 or 5 quince

300g ( 1 1/2 cups) sugar

100g (7 tablespoons) water

200g (3/4 cup) fresh lemon juice

zest of 2 lemons

2 or 3 bay leaves

1 vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 355ºF/180ºC.

Peel and core the quince and cut them into wedges by cutting them in half from top to tail and then cutting each half into thirds. Spread the wedges in a single layer in a large, heavy-bottomed gratin or roasting dish. Sprinkle with the sugar and cover with the water and lemon juice. Add the zest, bay leaves, and vanilla bean. Cover tightly with foil and roast for 23-35 minutes or until deep pinky orange and tender to the touch.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 1 month.