blood orange marmalade (with scotch!)

so i must admit, i do quite like marmalade. just the right combination of citrus, tartness and sweet. in years past i've made many versions, but i can say without a doubt that this one tops them all! the sweetness of blood oranges and meyer lemons combined with the smokiness of a great scotch. this is as good as it gets - especially once a slice of sourdough toast gets involved. 

after sifting the many recipes online i ended up modifying the basic certo marmalade recipe. it's as easy as can be. i canned two separate batches, and both times it worked like a charm.

blood orange marmalade (makes about 5 1 cup / 250 ml jars)

7-8 small organic blood oranges

2 meyer lemons

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups water

5 cups white sugar

1 packet certo liquid pectin

1 oz good scotch (optional - i used aberlour a'bunadh, what i had on-hand)

1. sterilize jars and lids using your preferred method.
2. slice the top & bottom off of two meyer lemons and three blood oranges. 
3. peel using a sharp knife or veggie peeler. 
4. slice rinds as thinly as possible, in about 2 cm lengths.
5. place peels, water and baking soda in a small saucepan. 
6. bring to a boil over high heat. 
7. cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
8. chop the peeled fruit and reserve (i quarter oranges and chop into 1 cm segments)
9. peel and chop the remaining 3-4 oranges and reserve.
10. make sure you've removed all the seeds!
11. combine boiled peels with enough chopped fruit to total 3 1/2 cups. place fruit in a stock pot.
12. bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes over medium heat.
13. add the sugar and stir well to combine.
14. bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. 
15. boil hard for one minute.
16. remove from heat.
17. add certo liquid pectin.
18. add scotch if desired.
19. stir to settle any foam that rises.
20. pour into hot jars and seal immediately.
21. place on wire rack to cool for a few hours.

eating: cafe medina inspired tagine

i love love love vancouver's cafe medina for brunch (if you haven't been you should, post haste!), and my favourite breakfast item has to be the tagine. it's a savory tomato & chickpea stew over merguez sausage and topped with poached eggs. this morning, too tempted by the overcast weather and cozy fireplace, we decided to stay in and try making this at home. oh my one word: delicious.

we just jotted down the recipe on our kitchen chalkboard as we went, improvising based on what we knew was in the dish, and general flavours of moroccan cuisine. everything was added rustic-style, in order, to a deep skillet:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, slivered
1/2 red onion, slivered
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 can plum tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
pinch of chili flakes
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 preserved lemon, slivered
1/4 cup sundried moroccan olives, pitted
1/2 can chickpeas, drained
2 merguez sausages
poached eggs
cilantro, for garnish

so - easy. you simply heat the olive oil. add the pepper, onion & garlic & sauté over medium high heat until tender. reduce heat to medium low and add tomatoes, including juice. break up the tomatoes a little with a spoon. add cilantro, seasonings, lemon and olives. simmer for 30-45 minutes.

meanwhile, cook sausages in a cast iron skillet. once your sausages are cooked through, remove from heat, slice on an angle and return to skillet. allow edges to crisp slightly. add stew to the cast iron skillet. leave on low heat while you make eggs.

softly poach eggs - two per person. i use this tried & true method from everybody likes sandwiches. meanwhile, plate stew, remove eggs with a slotted spoon. add on top of the stew and sprinkle with chopped cilantro, a few slivers of preserved lemon and freshly ground pepper.

you can serve with a side of warm flatbread or grilled focaccia. i might add a side of roasted zucchini as well, if i was trying to stretch this into a family-style meal for a large group. as this is, it serves 2-4 people, depending on how hungry they are.

mmm - the perfect combination

truth be told, i didn't like peanut butter until i was halfway through my twenties. my mom would buy the (excellent) natural peanut butter and i was a wee bit difficult in balking at the easiest lunch around. but now i do love a good pb&j sandwich, and i am crazy for anything spicy and thai with peanut flavour. so this satay-spiced grilled peanut butter sandwich over at craft is driving me crazy - and haven't eaten lunch yet. i wish i had some bean sprouts on hand - i have everything else. must try this post-haste.

happy love day!

couldn't resist making valentines day cookies using this great vanilla sugar cookies recipe from craftzine. i keep trying different sugar cookie recipes at every holiday, and they're all quite similar but i like this one the best. lots of vanilla, smooth cookies, easy too. and the icing alone makes it a winner. it's the best-tasting cookie icing i've ever made - yum! the pink ones are just iced but the white ones are double-decker, with a thin dab of strawberry jam sandwiching them together. double yum! 2/3 of these are onward to friends tomorrow - all these cookies in the house is too good for someone who likes sugar as much as i do!

yummy: abc cupcakes

you simply must check out the abc cupcakes by alicia of the red deer. she's going through the alphabet and making cupcakes featuring ingredients of each letter, one batch per week. get in on the weekly vote to help select which ingredient to feature, and touch back in every monday to see the result and the recipe with step-by-step instructions. seriously delicious and mouthwatering. i love that she picks unusual feature ingredients, things like guinness, irish whiskey and nougat.

my favourite so far? i love lemon, and these look like the best lemon cupcakes i've ever seen. now that it's getting cooler i'm going to have to find some folks to feed (so i don't eat them all myself) and get cracking.