t.g.i.c. (thank god for citrus!)

Is there anything crazier looking than a Buddha's hand citron? It's one of those God's-got-a-sense-of-humor fruits... and it is so delicious candied.

We are all eating so much citrus in my house that a few of us have canker sores. But still, when I came home from the farmer's market this week with the best-ever navel oranges, my son said he'd just eat through the pain because they tasted so good.

We have two kinds of lemons in the yard--Meyer and Eureka, so I juice a bunch of them, stir in some simple syrup, add a splash of sparkling water, and we have wintertime lemonade. Maybe we should set up a stand under an umbrella in the front yard?

Insalata's Restaurant in San Anselmo makes an olive oil citrus cake that is so moist and delicious... and so perfect for after a winter dinner or with a cup of tea.

Orange Almond Olive Oil Cake

2 small oranges
1 lemon

1 cup AP flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

4 eggs, room temp

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

6 oz toasted almonds,finely chopped in a food processor

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a 10"x3" round cake pan, line with parchment, and oil again.

In a medium saucepan, cover the whole oranges and lemons with water; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until fruit is tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and cool. Cut the oranges in half, discard seeds and rough chop the whole orange. Cut the lemon in half, remove and discard pulp and rough chop the lemon skin. Process the fruit in a food processor to a fine pulp.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk, combine eggs and sugar; whip until light and fluffy and will hold a ribbon, about 5 minutes. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Mix together fruit, nuts and olive oil and fold into batter until well incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until surface is dark golden brown and springs back when touched, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool in pan. Dust with confectioner;s sugar. Delicious served with a dollop of cardamom whipped cream!

the wintertime blues

Just when I think there might be a glimmer of sunshine out there...it starts raining again. I actually did see some brave plum blossoms and a few daffodils this week on one of my foggy day walks, but now we're back to umbrellas, wet feet, and root vegetables. Time for some soup.

I crave vegetable purees. You can make them out of anything in your refrigerator and they are smooth, creamy and completely comforting.

Start by sauteeing your chunked-up vegetables in olive oil in a soup pot or saucepan. I love the sweetness and color of carrots, so I used onions, a little celery, a potato and alot of carrots. I'm also fond of celery root in this soup, butternut squash, turnip, rutabaga... you get the picture.

After the vegetables start to soften a little and smell good, add a nice big splash of white wine and let it reduce for a minute or two. Then cover your vegetables with chicken stock--homemade if you have it, or canned is fine.

Let everything simmer, uncovered, until all the vegetables are very soft. Adjust the seasoning.

To puree the soup, you can use an immersion blender right in the pot, or let the soup cool a bit and puree it in batches in a food processor or blender. You will probably have to add more stock to get it the right consistency. If you want it richer, add a little cream, but it really doesn't even need it.

Aahhhh... beautiful, warm and satisfying.

While I'm in the kitchen, I also peeled and sliced a few apples, tossed them in sugar, dotted them with butter and sprinkled on a handful of dried cranberries. Bake the apples at 350F-375F until they're nice and soft. Eat them on their own warm.... or top them with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

It may be dreary outside, but it's warm and delicious in the kitchen!

busy bakers

My current class of pastry students at Tante Marie's

Cooking School have really been producing some beautiful work in the past few months, and it's time for the world to see some of their creations!

First,the simplicity of the Princess Cake....a great way to learn to handle marzipan for the first time. I always think of baby showers or little girl birthday parties when I see this sweet cake!

From the simple... to the crazy... with the Croquembouche. Students have so much fun assembling these towers of tiny cream puffs and decorating them with spun sugar, Jordan almonds, royal icing and nougatine. They are so over the top!

Everyone really had a chance to show their stuff during the entremet classes. These cakes have layers of genoise, flavored syrups, mousses, fruits and poured glazes, surrounded by decorated biscuit joconde.

And, of course, French macarons... these temperamental little cookies are all the rage. We filled a big glass compote with them for our Christmas party for a beautiful presentation.

Still to come.... wedding cake week! Then this group of students will be on to their final projects and launched into the big, delicious world of pastry in late March.

Great work, everyone!