Citrus Archives - Nerds with Knives

Blood Orange and Almond Upside-down Cake

March 22, 2022 by Emily

Scented with citrus and almonds, this Blood Orange and Almond Upside Down Cake is festive and delicious. The base stays moist for days thanks to the almond flour, and the bright, beautiful topping of thinly sliced blood oranges makes it a stunner.

Orange-Ginger Curd

May 12, 2021May 12, 2021 by Matt

Orange-ginger curd is a less tart variation on lemon curd, with a bright citrus flavor and a gorgeous hit of warm, spicy ginger. We love it on bread, scones, biscuits or as the filling in a tart.

Lemon Poppyseed Buttermilk Pound Cake

April 13, 2021March 31, 2021 by Emily

Buttermilk gives this cake a moist, tender crumb and with a triple hit of lemon – in the batter, syrup and glaze – our Lemon Poppyseed Buttermilk Pound Cake is perfect for citrus lovers.

Blood Orange and Endive Salad with Pickled Red Onions

March 22, 2021 by Emily

A citrus salad on a plate with cut endives on the table

The thing about early spring, at least here in the Hudson Valley, is that it basically looks and feels exactly like winter. For most of March and even into April, it’s cold and damp, and nothing in the garden will grow. During these dog days, a bright and zingy citrus salad feels like a life-saver. And it’s simplicity itself: juicy, sweet blood oranges (and a few mandarins for variety’s sake), tossed with crisp endive and some quick-pickled red onions. Toss over a little peppery mint and pistachios for crunch and that’s it. A drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkle of flaky salt is all the dressing it needs.

An assortment of whole and sliced blood oranges and mandarins — Does anything taste more like sunshine than citrus?

Thai Basil Gimlet

February 19, 2021July 20, 2020 by Matt

We’re very fond of our herb garden. A few years ago, we built a step stand on the back deck, and this holds enough aromatic greenery to pinch for the kitchen all summer long. Having herbs so close to hand means that it’s easy to get inspiration for a food or drink recipe. Herb pots are easy to set up, don’t require any digging, and can be positioned wherever you have a sunny spot. A few years ago, in our garden-less apartment in Brooklyn, we’d sneak herb pots out onto the fire escape in defiance of the landlady. When Emily lived in an industrial loft building, the roof was always the sunniest location and where herbs thrived. The pride of our raised bed garden is always late-summer tomatoes, but there’s a hero of the herb garden that brings us delight from early summer onwards. To paraphrase T S Eliot, we can measure out our summer in basil leaves.

This is about a third of the herbs we’re growing, though the shiso (bottom left) is trying to take over the world.

Blood Orange and Hibiscus Curd Tart with a Gingersnap Crust

February 18, 2021April 8, 2019 by Emily

Our ruby-hued blood orange and hibiscus curd makes a delicious and luscious filling for this beautiful seasonal tart. The crust is made from crushed gingersnap cookies, and couldn’t be simpler. With a great balance between sweet, tart and spicy, this is a real showstopper of a dessert.

When blood oranges are in season, we just can’t get enough of them so when we found a local shop selling a big bag of them for under 5 bucks, we knew we couldn’t pass them up. But what do you do when life gives you lem… oranges? Make curd!

We are legit curd crazy in this house. Curds with knives, they call us (no one calls us this). Lemon curd is pretty much a bi-monthly event in our kitchen. We’ve made blueberry-lemon curd, strawberry curd, even rhubarb curd. In fact, it was our experience with rhubarb curd that led us to add an extra ingredient, hibiscus, to our blood orange version (more on this later in the article).