Recipes: Any Fruit Coffee Cake and Pollo Con Naranjas (Chicken With Oranges)

Q. Here's a coffee cake that my mother's longtime friend Claire Genicoff shared with me when I was bride in the early 1960s. It's easy and versatile, as you can use any fruit.

— Norma Orovitz

A. Cook's Corner readers adore easy, adaptable recipes like this one. I tried it with mangoes, substituting brown sugar and a sprinkling of dark rum for the cinnamon sugar. To make your own cinnamon sugar, mix 1/2 cup white sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon, more or less to taste.

Any Fruit Coffee Cake

Makes 9 servings

Cake

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup oil or 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

Fresh fruit (2 nectarines, 2 apples, 1 cup berries, etc.)

Lemon juice

Cinnamon sugar

Nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all cake ingredients in a food processor and blend until dough forms. Press two-thirds of the dough on bottom and sides of an 8-inch square nonstick (or greased or parchment-lined) baking pan.

2. Cover with fruit, brush lightly with lemon juice and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg to taste.

3. Crumble remaining dough over top, covering edges. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until nicely browned. Serve plain or with ice cream or whipped cream.

Note: This recipe may be doubled and baked in a 9-by-13-inch pan.

From Linda Cicero's Cook's Corner

:

Q. I had a recipe, no doubt from Campbell's, for a simple chicken cooked with oranges, almonds and I'm not sure what else. Can you help?

— Nickie Williams

A. I found the recipe in the 1980 "Campbell"s International Cookbook," one of my favorite vintage cookbooks from a food manufacturer. It is amazingly varied, with recipes from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, all simplified with American ingredients, including, of course, condensed soup.

"This delicately scented chicken dish is a classic from east-central Mexico," the pollo con naranjas recipe reads. "It is colorful with oranges, nuts and raisins and it tastes as good as it looks." We enjoyed it immensely, served over rice.

Pollo Con Naranjas (Chicken With Oranges)

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 pounds bone-in chicken parts or boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs ( if using breasts or thighs you can skip the browning step)

1 can (10-ounce) condensed cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup orange juice

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Generous dash crushed saffron or ground turmeric

1 cup sliced onion

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

2 tablespoons raisins

2 medium cloves garlic, minced

Thinly sliced orange for garnish, optional

1. In a large skillet, heat oil and brown the chicken on both sides. Pour off fat.

2. Mix the condensed soup with the orange juice, and stir in the cinnamon, cloves and saffron. Add to the pan along with the onion, almonds, raisins and garlic. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Garnish with orange slices.

From Linda Cicero's Cook's Corner

(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.