Cafe Liz
Kosher vegetarian recipes from my kitchen in Tel Aviv
Blood orange jam
March 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm | Tags: blood orange, citrus, jam, orange, orange zest, parve, vegan
Blood oranges aren’t so common, although I’m not sure why not. They have a relatively discreet exterior — only a hint of a blush that tells you that no, this is not a normal orange; inside lies a shockingly red jewel of a fruit.
This year, I’ve found only one person selling blood oranges at the Carmel Market — the guy near the bottom of the shook, who also sells steamed corn and fruit juices. Coincidentally, he’s across from the one person at the shook who had limes several months ago.
What is it with the scarcity of interesting citrus this year? In any case, I decided to preserve some blood oranges for posterity, or at the very least for the next few months. Because what would make a marmalade more beautiful than ruddy sunset hues? Continue reading Blood orange jam…
Black bean soup with citrus
February 1, 2010 at 1:00 am | Tags: beans, citrus, dairy, kumquat, orange, parve, soup, vegan
It’s a simple black bean soup, but with a citrus tang — from oranges, kumquats or both. I first encountered a similar recipe about 10 years ago, and while I’ve long since forgotten which cookbook it was in, the mix of flavors has etched itself a place in my mind.
Most such recipes call for orange juice, but I see no reason not to throw in the whole fruit — the zest goes in during the cooking stage, then I remove the white pith, and blend the flesh into the cooked soup. It’s like juice, but with extra fiber.
Kumquats also make an excellent addition, as the sweet little balls of zest are in season, too. I added a few sliced up as garnishes to the finished soup, kind of like fruity croutons, but you could substitute them for the oranges entirely, if you want. Continue reading Black bean soup with citrus…
Passion-fruit citrus cheesecake
May 27, 2009 at 1:00 am | Tags: cake, cheese, cheesecake, citrus, dairy, dessert, holiday, passion fruit
This cheesecake has a fabulous, tangy flavor, thanks to the passion fruit, orange and lemon. It also almost ended in complete and total disaster due to my impatience.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve made a cheesecake — about 51 weeks, right around last year’s Shavuot, to be precise — and I kind of forgot the importance of letting the cheesecake take its dear sweet time to cool down. In my haste, I removed the baking ring a few minutes after this gorgeous, golden cheesecake came out of the oven, and watched in horror as the perfect top split and the cake collapsed into a pile on its tinfoil wrapping.
Fortunately, not all was lost. Continue reading Passion-fruit citrus cheesecake…
Kumquat pancakes
February 28, 2009 at 1:00 am | Tags: brunch, citrus, dairy, kumquat, pancake 
I don’t usually eat kumquats, but they look so cute that I’m occasionally tempted into buying some at the market (this happens quite frequently, and with quite a variety of different foods). Kumquats are known as “Chinese oranges” (תפוז סיני) in Hebrew, and I have to say I find this much more logical than the English name, as it actually tells you something about what it denotes. For instance, based on the English name, you would never know that kumquats are small, tangy citrus fruit, with a mild, zesty peel and a small amount of tart flesh inside. They happen to be in season right now, along with a huge variety of other citrus fruits, including the “Chinese lemon” (what on earth could that be called in English?) and my favorite, blood oranges.
By the way, the best place to get citrus right now is one of the stands in the Gaza market section of the Carmel market (parallel to the main strip). One of the guys there has a huge selection of different kinds of grapefruits, oranges, clementines, lemons and pomelos. He once labeled pomelit as “bamlat” (במלט — I kid you not — when spelled properly, it’s פומלית), which is really funny if you know some Arabic and Hebrew and appreciate linguistic humor. Anyway.
In any case, I’ve had the kumquats sitting in my fridge for a while now. I guess I bought bad kumquats, because many of them went bad in the time it took me to figure out what I wanted to do with them. In any case, I knew I wanted to throw the survivors into some kind of sweet food, since kumquats would go well anywhere you would think to use citrus zest — it’s merely a milder flavor than orange or lemon. Our pancake brunch presented itself as an excellent opportunity. Continue reading Kumquat pancakes…
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