Citrus Circus! Tangerine Tofu & Blood Orange Banana Bread

I love all citrus fruits that are available in winter: Meyer lemons, key limes, blood oranges, tangerines, clementines, oh yeah!  I've been taking advantage of them to the fullest.

Tangerine Tofu!

Marmalade Marinade: Home made tangerine marmalade (thanks, sister!) probably about 3/4 cup, 1 tablespoon or so organic tamari,  1/2 tsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp dried organic oregano, a little nutritional yeast (a few shakes), a few shakes of garlic powder and topped up with some spring water.

 Saute on top of the stove in cast iron :-)

Serve with Winter Risotto (see below) and Sauteed Organic Swiss Chard & Arugula

Winter Risotto: Barley Risotto with Mushrooms, Carrots, Onions, made in an Organic Veggie broth with White Wine, & 18 Year Balsamic.

Then, I got obsessed with making a Blood Orange bread of some sort.  I was jealous of my friend, Food Feud's Blood Orange Olive Oil Loaf, and I wanted to get the Blood Orange olive oil from Taste of Olive, but they were out of it (it's coming in soon, since the blood oranges just became available, they didn't have it on Saturday morning when I went to the store, so I got the jalapeno oil--highly recommended by my friend Taylor of the Mac&Cheese blog, and the Picholine oil, since I love those olives).  Then, in my continued obsessing about citrus, I remembered this awesome Lime-Coconut-Banana bread I made last year, and I had three (yes, three!) ripe bananas on my counter...so:

So, I made a Blood Orange Banana (and Olive Oil and Coconut) Bread a version of the Coconut-Lime-Banana bread from last year, exactly a year ago to the day, amazingly.  Here's my counter in the process of making it:

 Ground flax + 1/4 cup fresh Blood Orange juice = "egg" for the bread.

 Action shot of my mixer.  I like the reflection of my legs and the bright pink flax "egg" in the bowl.

 Batter in the prepared pan.

 Baked! You can see a bit of a pinkish-orange tinge to the top of the cake, beautiful!

Served with a topping of coconut nectar, shredded organic coconut, more fresh blood orange juice, and fresh blood orange zest.

Here's the recipe.  It is based on the wonderful recipe in The 30 Minute Vegan, which I highly recommend.

Blood Orange Banana Bread

Adapted from the 30 Min Vegan’s Coconut-Lime Banana bread.

1 ½ cups whole organic spelt flour (Arrowhead Mills works well)

½ cup organic coconut flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

1 ½ cups banana (3 small bananas) mashed if not using a mixer

½ cup olive oil—my preference. (or coconut, sunflower, safflower, organic canola, etc.)

2/3 cup organic sugar

2 tsps vanilla extract

½ tsp orange extract

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Blood Orange zest (the zest of about one orange)

1 ½ tablespoons ground flax

¼ cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Add-ins and variations: chopped nuts (any kind), ½ cup shredded coconut, ½ cup white or dark chocolate chips, lime zest + juice instead of orange, lemon zest + juice instead of orange, etc.

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In a small bowl, whisk together the flax seeds and the blood orange juice. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, or in a large bowl if making by hand or using a hand mixer, add the bananas and mix (or smash!) until pretty well mashed.  Add all the rest of the wet ingredients (oil through zest) including the flax mixture and blend for 2 minutes on medium speed until the mixture is uniform and soups with very few chunks of banana.

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flours through baking powder) through a fine mesh strainer.

Reduce speed on your mixer to low, and gradually add the flour mixture until dough is blended. Do not over mix!  

Transfer to a prepared baking pan (a standard loaf pan, lightly buttered and dusted with flour). Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes (start checking at 35 min, if it looks browned on top, take it out and do a toothpick test).  It will be lovely and lightly toasted on top and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean when it is done.

I let my loaves cool completely on a wire rack (in their pan) before serving or wrapping for storage.

Enjoy!!

P.S. So, I need to mention that this bread recipe produces a fantastic bread with a perfect, moist crumb, but WITHOUT what I consider to be the usual problem of most fruit based 'quick' breads (usually banana or pumpkin): TOO MUCH MOISTURE to the point of almost soggy, especially on day two or three of having the loaf around.

                                

I substituted the flax egg for soy yogurt called for in the original recipe.  Many fruit breads call for ingredients that ALL lend moisture: bananas/fruits, oils, and often yogurt or silken tofu in addition.  By removing the yogurt/silken tofu element, I created lighter, slightly drier, but far from “dry” bread.  I vastly prefer the texture and taste of this bread than the more moisture laden fruit bread recipes.

Let me know what you guys think.