The CookingBites Recipe Challenge: Nov 2015-June 2017

morning glory said:
The new CookingBites Recipe Challenge ingredient is the orange. Its a fruit somewhat associated with Christmas (the orange in the bottom of your Christmas stocking), candied orange peel in mince pies, perhaps orange slices with spices in mulled wine or punch. But I'm also looking to January and thinking marmalade! The bitter Seville orange traditionally used in marmalade is only in season for a few short weeks in January. Any recipes for sweet or savoury dishes (or for drinks) are welcome and I will endeavour to cook and taste recipes which are unfamiliar to me.

The deadline is midday Tuesday 5th January (UK time). I'll post a piece about the orange when I get time to write it up - hopefully that may draw people's attention to the competition.
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Good choice! I love that you picked such a versatile ingredient and something that can be used for sweet or savoury dishes. I'm going to enjoy this round, I think!! :)
 
Is there a secret ingredient? Oh OK I just saw you already posted the ingredient...potatoes. I know last month it was carrots...I think there are many options when it comes to recipes and ingredients of course. Potatoes should be a good one, because everyone has a special potato recipe.
 
kgord said:
Is there a secret ingredient? Oh OK I just saw you already posted the ingredient...potatoes. I know last month it was carrots...I think there are many options when it comes to recipes and ingredients of course. Potatoes should be a good one, because everyone has a special potato recipe.
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There's no secret ingredient. There is a chosen ingredient for each competition. The winner of the last competition was @morning glory who chosen oranges for the next competition which she now judges. The chosen ingredient, current judge and closing date can be found at the top of the first post on this thread.
 
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cupcakechef said:
What about Dr. Pepper?! I bet there are a ton of recipes both sweet and savory that would use it!!
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Dr. Pepper pulled pork! It's insanely good. Made it once, and yes, it's just like it sounds... you slow cook a whole pork roast after dousing it with a 2-litre of Dr. Pepper, (plus adding: of course, chopped onion, minced garlic, apple cider vinegar, several spices) yeah... I know. Lol. &, one would think that the pork turns out way too sweet? Nope.The massive amount of sugar helps to break down the meat, keeps things succulent, that's about it. But wow... was it ever good! Have also seen recipes for pulled pork cooked in Sprite, Coca Cola, 7-Up. Over here in the west, we truly are nuts. We cook like this, but we wonder about the obesity epidemic? LOL. And no, I don't drink pop. Ever. I stick to water, fruit juice, and once in a while, a good wine, beer, or spirit. I only cook with the stuff. :wink:
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
The current competition ingredient is the 'Orange', @morning glory is the current judge and you have until midday on Tuesday 5th January (UK Time) to enter as many recipes as you want into the competition, so please come on and enter as many recipes featuring the competition ingredient as you can come up with. To enter simply write up a recipe as normal then let us know about it in this thread.

A reminder of the "Rules"
  • You must post up the recipe here on CookingBites (no screenshots or links to recipes other than crediting).
  • The recipe must contain the ingredient specified in the challenge. :o_o:
  • The recipe must be posted up on CookingBites during the challenge time period.:giggle:
  • The recipe must have the 'recipe' prefix and the 'cookingbites recipe challenge' tag. It should also have the correct normal tags, so a banana smoothie would have 'banana' and 'smoothie' tags.
  • Now just come back to this thread and let us know you have posted up a qualifying recipe out of politeness...
  • Judge's decision is final and they select the next ingredient, time frame and winner... :scratchhead:
  • In the event of a dispute the site moderators have the final say.:cool:
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It started off with this and I am leaving this here so that the thread start makes some sense....

I was wondering if anyone was interested in a competition whereby the winner selects an ingredient and those entering this competition have to post the recipe up on CookingBites that uses that ingredient. Obviously to include everyone (omnivores, vegetarian, flexitarian, pescetarians, vegans, raw foodies etc) we'll have to set loose boundaries on the 'have you actually made it' side of life but the rules would be... <now above>​
Obviously you will need to put up a link here so that the 'judge' knows about the recipe. It would just be an informal thing, big of fun. I could see if the winner could have a ribbon over their name & avatar...

Any takers?
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---- Saw the ingredient and challenge just today. In a few hours, it will be Tuesday in Canada. I am definitely in for the next competition, however. :)
 
niemela23 said:
---- Saw the ingredient and challenge just today. In a few hours, it will be Tuesday in Canada. I am definitely in for the next competition, however. :)
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The reason that I give the closing date and timezone is to clarify when it ends.
The competition runs on UK time on our current click, so GMT not BST (or GMT+1). It has just under another 6 hours to run. Plenty of time for another entry or two...
 
There have been 9 entries to the current Recipe Challenge from 5 members. I'm putting on my hypercritical hat to comment on them all!
@classic33
Recipe Peas And Brussels Sprouts With Hazelnut And Orange Glaze
I thought this was a good recipe. It uses the orange zest which some of the recipes omit. The zest is the part of the orange in which the maximum flavour lies. I one problem with this recipe. The recipe states cooking the sprouts for five minutes. I know that no-one wants soggy overcooked sprouts - but for me, that is just too much crunch!
@cupcakechef
Recipe Chocolate Orange Brownies
First off the mark in the recipe challenge. Yes, chocolate and orange is a great classic combination - but I thought that the recipe cheated a bit by using a (Terry's?) chocolate orange in the ingredients. Personally I would find the chocolate orange pieces too sickly in an already sweet orange chocolate cake.
@winterybella
Recipe Orange-Rosemary Glazed Salmon
Great to see a fish recipe included. I liked the rosemary in combination with orange and the dish looks attractive. I've used that combo in a chicken dish to good effect. However, I felt that putting honey in the dish really took it over the top in terms of sweetness: honey and fish?... not to my taste
@SatNavSaysStraightOn
Recipe Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers with Orange-Basil Salsa
I like this recipe very much. I'm a great fan of black beans with their earthy, smokey flavour, the perfect foil for tangy fragrant orange. Throw in a twist of chilli and I'm on board! I also think that visually this dish would work well - orange, red and green and black. The only change I'd make is to add orange zest to the salsa. Shortlisted.
Recipe Orange-miso coated tofu and asparagus
An interesting recipe. I wouldn't have thought of tofu with orange, but the salty miso would work well with zesty orange. I'm unsure about subjecting delicate asparagus to these flavours though. Also when recipes state things like 'any vegetable can be used instead' I tend to lose confidence in the integrity of the recipe (perhaps I'm just too much of a purist!)
Recipe Rye and orange biscuits
A straightforward simple recipe. I can imagine the slightly sour rye flavour would work well with tangy orange. I would have made these if I could have obtained rye flakes - but I'm away from home right now and the local Waitrose didn't stock them. Shortlisted.
Recipe Orange glazed sweet potatoes
I'm not the greatest fan of sweet potatoes (a little too sweet for me) and I'm afraid, the idea of adding to their sweetness with sugar and orange doesn't work in my book.
Recipe Orange Drizzle Cake
A classic cake which I've made before but this is a recipe with a twist, using chia seeds and flax seeds. I had trouble reconciling the image (which looks like a standard sponge orange drizzle cake) with the ingredients list. Surely the cake would have an entirely different texture and be flecked with the ground seeds? I haven't obviously had a chance to cook the recipe as it was only just posted... but I think the addition of oats as well as the seeds would make for a rather too stodgy texture for my taste.
@Duck59
Recipe Orange, beetroot and celery salad
I liked this recipe. Super simple and using just three basic ingredients: the earthy sweetness of beetroot, the aniseed tang of celery and the fragrant zing of orange. A pretty dish too! Shortlisted.

Now I'm going off to ponder the shortlist and will post the result a little later...
 
After much deliberation I shortlisted 3 recipes featuring the orange for the Cookingbites Recipe Challenge. A big thank you to all who participated. For comments on all the recipes submitted see my previous post.

The shortlist:
from @SatNavSaysStraightOn
Recipe Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers with Orange-Basil Salsa
Recipe Rye and orange biscuits

from @Duck59
Recipe Orange, beetroot and celery salad


In the end I rejected the Rye and Orange biscuits - a good recipe but it didn't really excite me. As far as I'm concerned the other two recipes are both worthy winners but in the interests of widening participation, since @SatNavSaysStraightOn has already been a challenge judge, I declare the winner as:
@Duck59 with Recipe Orange, beetroot and celery salad.
:bravo::bravo::bravo:

Over to you @Duck59 to choose the featured ingredient and set a deadline for the next challenge.
 
Golden duck!

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How about parsnips? I like a parsnip, so I'd be interested to see any bright ideas.

Is a week long enough? We could extend it to the end of next week, say Friday.
 
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