Blood Red And Ever Green

Meet the newest member of our kitchen garden*: a dwarf blood orange tree. It's name is Sanguinelli: from sanguine meaning blood (or cheer, confidence, health, passion) and elli meaning plural for ello... I don't know what ello means. I do know what this gift means to us though. It's a late anniversary/early Christmas present from my mom, and it's a gift that will truly keep on giving.

Our Sanguinelli is about 4-feet tall above the pot and there are about 20 oranges already on it (it's like a gift-with-purchase!), so come this February or March (providing they don't drop from the stress of moving) I should be both ready and able to make something scrumptious with them. In the meantime, it will live alongside our dwarf Meyer lemon on the patio in a big pot on wheels. It will get extra water during the summer months and get pulled up close to the house (and covered) on winter nights when the temperature dives to 32°F or below... like, um, tonight for instance.

Pecunia In Arbotis Non Crescit**... or does it?

Blood oranges are something that I usually just dream about as I substitute regular oranges into recipes that were designed to show off the unique color and flavor of Sanguinelli, Moro, or Tarocco. Sure, I could buy them at the fancy grocery store here in town... or rather, I could if we had a food budget that included exotic specialty fruits. So we decided to grow them instead. Ordinary fruits and vegetables are easily found all over, why give up garden space for cheap and ordinary? The care and feeding are the same whether it's a Blood Orange or a Navel (but guess which one costs less at the market). We'll most likely go for a lime tree next, but in keeping with my philosophy, we should maybe think about one of these other citrus varieties instead... perhaps a Limequat or Bhudda's Hand?

Now That I've Got It... What Do I Do With It?
Under the letter "B" in the indexes of my cookbooks, I found more than a few Bloody Marys (hmm), a Blood Sausage, and even Blood Cholesterol Levels (I opted not to read that one just now), but no Blood Orange anything. Then I came to the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook...  everything from drinks to salads to desserts, all featuring blood oranges, seven in all. Leave it to Martha to feature an expensive, hard to find fruit so extensively. What was I thinking looking there last? Here are some of those and a whole lot more...

• A beautiful slideshow with links to a dozen blood orange recipes at Martha Stewart.
  
• Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad with Spicy Greens from 101 Cookbooks... gorgeous!
• Blood Orange Tart from Food & Wine is like a crostata... hey, I can do that!
• Blood Orange and Polenta Upside-Down Cake at TheKitchn.
• Forget about the cold winter and chill out with a Blood Orange Margarita and a Blood Orange Sidecar (called a Midnight Ride) from White On Rice Couple.
• A simple cake made special: Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake from the New York Times with an optional compote.
• A great article and a bunch of yummy links to bloggy blood orange deliciousness at Simply Recipes.
• Bon Appétit... no slouch in the blood orange recipe department.
• How about a Blood Orange Mojito from design*sponge? Still to cold out for an icy drink? Freeze the juice now... make the mojito when the weather warms up!
• Hold the phone.... Blood Orange Caramels with Toasted Almonds and Sea Salt at Matt Bites.
  

*I use this term with tongue planted firmly in cheek... our back yard is 80% concrete, 20% redwoods, and not a whole lot of sun, so any food we grow must do well in pots and those pots get lined up along the sunny southern fence (or, like the two citrus, have wheels in order to follow the sun). 
**Money does not grow on trees (well, that's what they say anyhow) .