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Around the turn of the 20th
century a French Priest, named Pere Clement,
living in Algeria, crossed a bitter orange (Seville) with a Mandarin. The
result was a sweet yet tangy, slightly flattened, easy to peel orange
which became known as the Clementine. Clementines are often
called the 'Christmas' orange, as its harvest time
corresponds with the holiday season. They are most often eaten raw but I always try
to put a few aside to make
this Middle Eastern Clementine Torte which uses whole cooked Clementines, peel and
all. This Clementine Torte recipe is adapted from Stephanie Alexander's
excellent 'The Cook's Companion' where she tells
us that in Australia it is hard to find a cafe that doesn't serve this
delicious cake. It is dense and moist, flavored with ground
almonds, with a slightly tart flavor that comes from the orange peel. It
does not contain butter or oil, only oranges, eggs, sugar, and ground
almonds. Easily made in a food processor, it stores very well, in fact, it is better to bake this cake several days
in advance of serving so its flavors have time to blend and soften.
As I mentioned above, this torte contains ground almonds. You can
either buy almond meal/flour or else you can make your own by placing
whole or sliced almonds in your food processor and processing them until
finely ground. Almond meal/flour can be found at some grocery
stores, specialty food stores/markets,
or else at health food stores. You can also
order it on line.
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