Brown Butter Scallops with Red Pepper- Orange Sauce, Fresh Asparagus and Almonds

 

Fresh asparagus season is always a reason for celebration. The fresh crispy green stems are delightful on their own, and even more so, when served with different ingredients.
In the following tasty and colorful dish, I’ve paired some simply steamed asparagus with lightly pan-fried scallops, and served both with red pepper-orange sauce and roasted almonds. This combination of ingredients worked amazing well together.

Orange Vegetables Soup with Young Coconut and Pickled Ginger

 

Orange colored vegetables soup is always a favorite, with its bright, uplifting and sunny color. While it is warming and filling, and highly nutritious, it is also quite light, which makes it perfect for the season.
As I like to add different flavors to the basic vegetables of the soup, this time I’ve decided on young coconut, along with bold flavors of pickled ginger and Harissa, a spicy red pepper paste.

Swirl Sour Cream Cake with Dried Fruit and Walnuts

 

The following swirl cake is a wintry version of a summery fresh fruit cake I have posted a few years ago.

Orange and Quince Duck Legs

 

Whenever I’m lucky enough to find quince at the store, I immediately grab a few. It is such a wonderful and versatile fruit, and it is a real shame its’ season is fairly short.
On top of being such a fragrant fruit, quince has so much pectin in it, it is no wonder that its’ main use is in making jams, jellies and fruit pastes. Quince is also great for making Pate de Fruit, a recipe I have shared a while ago, and can be found HERE.

Orange, Chocolate and Almond Cookies

Citrus fruits season is almost over, and it seems like a good reason to use the still fresh oranges in a new version of my orange-chocolate cookies, which are among my favorites.

Orange, Rum and Raisins Ricotta Cheese Cake

Ricotta cheese has a fresh, tangy flavor, and a slight grainy texture. It can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. Mixed with sugar, it makes a tasty filling for sweet pastries, and it is often used to bake cheesecakes, as in the following recipe.

Dried Fruit and Ginger Heavy Cream Cake

Noticing I somehow accumulated quite a few small quantities of different dried fruit, I decided the best way to use them was in a cake.

Pecan, Orange, Dried Cranberries and Maple Sugar Cookies

Keeping a few logs of cookie dough in the freezer, guaranties having freshly baked cookies in no time.

Orange Vegetables and Pineapple Soup

One of the best remedies for grey gloomy days, is to have a bowl of bright colored, velvety tasty warm soup.

Spiced Squash, Sweet Potato and Orange Soup

Spaghetti squash is sometimes marketed as a healthier alternative to regular spaghetti, and lately, I’ve decided to give it a try.

Butternut Squash and Orange Muffins

Continuing the butternut squash saga of last week, I still had one more package of thawed butternut squash that I needed to find use for. As I’m very fond of using vegetables in cakes (see below list), I’ve decided on making breakfast muffins with it.