Grilled Sourdough Bread With Roasted Blood Oranges, Anchovies And Olives

Blood oranges hit our fruit and veg. shops in Winter here in Australia.  The season is from August to October, so they are ripe and ready at the moment.  Perfect timing for this dish from Charlie Carrington's book The Atlas Cookbook.  (And perfect timing as you could use my overnight garlic bread from my previous post.)  

As my busted-up foot is still on the mend, I asked Mr P. to give me a hand with making this one.  "It won't take long," I said, at which he snorted, smiled and said, "Yeah, sure!"  He knows me well.  I tend to be the tortoise rather than the hare, with these things.  But he happily gave me his hand, and his grilling skills.

yep, go ahead and stack your toast

Reminds me of the time my Melbourne friend flew up here, and we trotted over the border to attend a cooking class in the hinterland of the Northern Rivers region.  We worked in pairs, and somehow my friend (who is a trained chef), managed to do about three quarters of the cooking!  And then she sliced up my hand, accidentally of course.  I was waving my hand around, while she was lifting her knife to add ingredients to a bowl.  Eek!  The knife and the hand met mid-air, leading to lots of blood and me having to lie down, like a swooning lady in a Regency novel :-)  'Oh Mr. Darcy, where are you?'

quirky and tangy and delicious 

Serves 2-4 (depending on your greed, as Nigella L. says):

ingredients:

4 blood oranges (or normal oranges at a pinch)

90 mL/3 oz EV olive oil

20 mL/¾ oz red-wine vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

4 slices sourdough bread (or use my overnight garlic bread)

12 fabulously brilliant best quality (marinated) anchovies

100g./3.5 oz olives, halved or quartered - see notes below

A sprinkle of sea salt flakes, and a big dash of ground black pepper

Method:

On goes your oven at 125C/255F

Peel your oranges, and cut them in half - see Notes below

Pour the oil and vinegar into a roasting/baking tray/dish; place the oranges cut side down into the tray, and throw the garlic slices over the oranges

Roast for an hour, or until the oranges have collapsed (mine took an hour and a half, but you know the story - doddery oven and weak gas supply)

Let them cool off, while you grill or toast the bread 

So take the oranges out of the roasting tray, swish the bread slices around in the oil and vinegar, then grill them on both sides till nicely charred

Hand out a slice or two to your diners (just me and Mr P.!)

Place the oranges, anchovies and olives on a platter, and everyone goes for it!  Add the salt and pepper if using, and stack your toast as you please!   No little fishies for Mr P. though :-)

Notes:

I used sherry vinegar as I had no red wine vinegar, but use whatever you fancy; (maybe not balsamic :-) )

I used marinated white anchovies; you don't want those hairy, horrible beasties they sling on pizza

Charlie says to use pitted black olives; I think green olives go well here so I used green olives stuffed with Danish fetta.  And why not? :=)  So use your fave kind; feel free to halve or quarter them

I experimented by leaving one orange with the skin on, to see if it's easier/tastier/better than peeling them first.  Peeling the oranges was a right pain, as the skin was too thin to use a peeler or your fingers.  Mr P. says 'take the skin off!'  I suggest cutting them into thick slices (maybe 1-2 cm or 1/2 inch), and roasting for 30-40 minutes.  I did find halving them, then taking the peel off with a knife worked very well (before baking)

Charlie makes no suggestions about using the oil mixture to grill the bread, and in fact did not mention what to do with it at all!  Mr P. (griller extraordinaire) used it all up for the grilling.  He suggests dipping the bread on both sides, then grill away till charred and golden - well, kinda black really :)

Charlie did not mention seasoning either, but I felt a bit of salt and pepper added to the flavour; surprisingly the marinated white anchovies were not as salty as I expected

ingredients gathered

halve your oranges

measuring out the EV olive oil

blood oranges and garlic ready for roasting at 125C/255F

green olives stuffed with Danish fetta

slice up the sourdough

Mr P. grills his bread

after an hour and a half in the oven

crunchy toast (not burnt, honest)

ready for stacking

and ready for eating - so delish!

© Sherry M.

(Linking up with Marg from The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking.)