Blood Orange Juice

When I was growing up my parents had a juicer.  Not like the one pictured here, but one of those big ones that could juice vegetables as well as citrus fruits.  One year my grandma got one too, so there were two floating around our family.  Once my grandma downsized from a house to an apartment, I inherited the juicer, but it sat unused for so many years I finally gave it to a friend in one of my moves.  After a couple of years I decided I wanted another citrus only juicer as that is the part I can see myself using.  So here it is above with blood orange juice mixed with regular orange juice.  Because blood oranges can be a bit tart, it is good to mix them 1 to 3 with regular oranges, but you can be the judge of what ratio you use.

2 blood oranges
6 regular oranges

This makes about two good sized glasses of orange juice depending on how much juice is extracted from each orange.

Oranges with Red Chile

Oranges with Red Chile

I have been neglecting my more consistent posting since I started my new job last year.  With a 75 mile one way commute, all of my time has now been taken up by spending much more time than I was used to in my car.  Fortunately, I am up on the news, have "read" to many new books on tape, and renewed my interest in listening to new and old musicians and bands alike.  What has suffered though is my time to enjoy my cooking.  However, I have made some more simplistic things including this delicious, yet simple oranges with red chile.

This recipe is adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.  This is an easy preparation using a variety of oranges is best, but I only had on had navel oranges.  I do love blood oranges, but at the time I couldn't find any.  They have a delicious sweet, yet tartness to them which would have complimented the flavors well.  Since oranges are still in season, I encourage you to try your hand at this variation to eating plain, sweet oranges.

Oranges with Red Chile
2-3 large oranges (I used navel, but blood orange or a combination would be excecellent)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky salt
Chile powder (I used Aleppo pepper)
Fresh herbs (which I did not have on hand so didn't use)

Method:
Cut off peal of the oranges.  If you cut top and bottom off first, you can stand the orange on end and slice off the peel from the sides and create the geometric shape you see here.  You want all the pith to be removed from the outside of the orange.  Slice into about 1/4 inch slices.

Spread orange slices onto a plate, and then drizzle them with olive oil (make sure it is of good quality).  Sprinkle with flaky salt.  (I used a flaky sea salt.)  Dust with chile powder and serve.

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