Citrus salad with fennel Vinaigrette. Mediterranean Orange almond cake. Different rainbows

This blog is helping me to analyse my life and to mark out the exact boundaries of my personality. I am writing my thoughts and feelings about chapters of the story of my young life- well, not that young anymore, I am afraid-.

Every night I spend un ratito (a little while) of 5-10 minutes with my daughter Aurelia in her bedroom before she falls sleep. It is when we pray and she talks about her day or any thought that crosses her mind. The other night she asked me "Mum, what do you like?". 

A simple question but with a tricky answer for me. Why? Because I always prefer to please and not disappoint someone that having confrontations. Which makes me a bad lawyer by the way.

With maturity I have learnt that sometimes it is ok to say NO or to say YES to someone; that you can not pretend that everybody likes you because in the end you need to ask yourself who are you?? You are what people want you to be. Like a chameleon. And it doesn't feel right to me.

My answer was not straight forward so I said "I like many things but specially being now with you". I thought about her question a lot since then, even more when I run yesterday morning.

Last night I wanted to go back to Aurelia's question so we had this conversation:

-" Do you remember when you asked me what I liked?" I asked her. She nodded affirmatively.

-"Well, I like to be myself, and it is something I am still discovering through many aspects of my life. It isn't easy, you know". She listened quietly.

-"I like eating ice creams, fruit roll ups and playing with my friend Zayden at school" She replied. And then, out of the blue, she added, "Did you know mum that everybody sees the rainbow with different colours?". I smiled and kissed her good night.

I didn't know it but if she says so I believe it is true because it means that everybody has a personal rainbow. I just need to define mine and I think I have already started. And you?.

 Citrus salad with fennel Vinaigrette 

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 small fennel bulb, finely chopped, plus 1/2 cup chopped fronds
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped peeled ginger
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• Salt, freshly ground pepper
• 4 navel oranges, blood oranges, tangerines and/or grapefruit
• 5 cups mixed hardy salad greens
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Heat oil in a medium skillet over median heat. Add chopped fennel, shallot, ginger and fennel seeds and cook, stirring often, until tender but not brown, 10minutes. Mix in vinegar and honey. Let cool, season with salt and pepper.
2. Finely grate 1 tsp.zest from 1 orange; set aside. Using a sharp knife, cut all peel and white pith from oranges; discard. Cut between membranes to release segments into a medium bowl; discard membranes.
3. Toss greens, parsley, fennel fronds, oranges, and dressing in a large bowl. Serve with orange zest.

Because everything is in moderation in this life, you are allowed to indulge yourself from time to time.

I love Neil Perry's cookbook Simple Good Food which is a collection of his recipes from his column in the Good Weekend newspaper. It is a book to learn to cook starting with simple recipes and "as you grow in confidence, add more and more recipes to your repertoire"- he says . So I used the left over oranges from the salad to make this delicate Mediterranean orange and almond cake. 

This cake isn't rich or heavy. I love the natural flavour of the almond meal. It is not only healthy -no flour or butter; and it has almonds which are very good for you and just a little bit of sugar- but also a perfect end for a light dinner.

Mediterranean orange cake

180 g almond meal

• 65 g fresh breadcrumbs from day-old bread
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 150 g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 160 ml vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Lightly grease a 22cm round cake tin and line the base and side with a double thickness of baking paper extending 2 cm above the top of the tin.
2. Put the almond meal, breadcrumbs, baking powder and orange zest in a bowl and mix to combine. In another bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs using electric beaters until thick and pale. Gradually add the oil and beat until well combined.
3. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Pour into the prepared tin. 
4. Bake for 40 minutes and allow to stand in the tin for 5 minutes befoerturning out on a wire rack to cool.

PS: Neil Perry suggests a cardamon creme anglaise to serve. We had it with strawberries in balsamic vinegar and plain yogurt.
Note: it is important to use fresh breadcrumbs to make this cake moist. Remove the crust from a day-old bread, cut in cubes and place them in the food processor.