Brandied Oranges
8 oranges – peel and cut into chunks.
Boil 1 cup water and 1 1/2 cups sugar for 2 minutes or until dissolved then cool.
Add 1/4 cup brandy, 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or 2 tablespoons Cointreau liqueur
Citrus Crumble
Chop up 3 oranges, mandarins or grapefruit – add to pie dish.
Sprinkle with ½ cup dried fruit eg cranberries, craisins or currants & 3 pieces finely chopped glace ginger
Crumble Top: ½ cup each of brown sugar, SR flour, coconut, rolled oats, 1 zested orange
Bake 180°C until the top browns – serve with custard, cream or ice-cream.
Semolina Orange Cake
2 oranges (if small use 3) – ¼ & peel oranges – Chop & remove seeds.
Place in large jug and add just enough boiling water to almost cover.
Microwave uncovered on high for 10 minutes or until tender. Cool. Drain & strain. Blend remainder until smooth. ( just squash it with a spoon in strainer, turn the strainer upside down over a bowl and bump the pulp into bowl).
Beat 185gm butter and 1 cup castor sugar
Add 3 eggs – one at a time.
Stir in 1/2 cup semolina, 1 cup almond meal, 1 teas. baking powder and orange puree.
22cm round cake tin, greased and bottom lined with paper
Pour into pan. Bake in slow/mod oven 160 degrees or 150 degrees fan forced for 1 hour.
Stand 5 minutes. While cake is standing, make syrup.
Dissolve ½ cup castor sugar in 1/3 cup water on low heat and then bring to boil. Boil for 1 or 2 mins. Turn cake out onto wire rack. Cool for 5-10 minutes then pour over hot syrup. Cool. Sprinkle top with icing sugar just before serving.
Flourless Orange Cake
Place 2 oranges in a saucepan and cover with water and boil for as long as it takes to become soft enough to be able to pierce with your finger. Remove and allow to cool then process in a blender until the pulp is smooth (skin and all) Measure 180gms of orange pulp.
Beat 5 eggs and 200gms castor sugar until well combined then mix in orange pulp, 200gms almond meal and ½ tsp baking powder. Bake in a cool oven for one hour.
Citrus marinade for white meat – chicken/pork Mix ¼ cup green Calamansi Cumquat juice with ½ cup soy sauce and garlic and black pepper to taste. Marinate for 2 hours+ before BBQing. This recipe was given to me by a lass from the Philippines and she said they use their cumquats when they are green.
Freezing your lemons Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole lemon without waste? Simple..place the washed lemon in your freezer. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your foods. Sprinkle it on your vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, cereals, noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes, instant noodles – the list is endless. All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of lemon juice and vitamin C. What’s the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes? Lemon peel contains as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself.
Preserving Lemons
Lemons often become hard and dry before they get used. What are some tricks to preserve their juiciness? First, start with the juiciest lemons you can find. Our shopping tests proved that thin-skinned lemons that yielded under pressure contain more juice than thick-skinned, rock-hard specimens even when the lemons were nearly identical in size, shape, and weight. As for storage, we tested three different methods both at room temperature and in the refrigerator: in an uncovered container, in a sealed zipper-lock bag, and in a sealed zipper-lock bag with ¼ cup water added. We recorded the fruits’ weights at the start and end of the experiment and then every few days to measure moisture loss. All the lemons stored at room temperature hardened after a week. The refrigerated samples fared much better: The uncovered lemons (which we kept in the crisper drawer) began to lose a small amount of moisture after the first week and 5 percent of their weight in the following weeks; the lemons stored in zipper-lock bags, both with and without water, didn’t begin to dehydrate until four weeks had passed. As it turned out, the water wasn’t offering any preservation benefits, but the zipper-lock bag did seal in some moisture. For the juiciest, longest-lasting lemons, then, the best approach is to seal them in a zipper-lock bag and refrigerate. So to keep lemons fresh for weeks, refrigerate them in a zipper-lock bag. Ref: Cooks Illustrated
Limoncello by Jenny Scodellaro
Wash and peel 6-8 lemons. Infuse the peel in 750ml vodka for 40 days, shaking the jar occasionally.
Strain the peel out using a sieve & muslin.
Make sugar syrup with 1 litre water, 700g sugar, dissolve whilst stirring over low heat
Combine cooled syrup with alcohol.
Leave in a dark place for another 40 days if you can wait that long.
Strain again with a sieve and coffee filter papers – this gives the liqueur a sparkle.
Bottle, store in fridge – drink ice cold!
Crema di Limoncello contributed by Jenny Scodellaro
Given to me by my cousin-in-law, Daniela from Italy
Peel 6 – 8 washed lemons very carefully depending on size (I used 6 big Meyer lemons) trying very hard to minimize the bitter white pith.
Potato peeler is good to use and you want big pieces for easy removal later.
Infuse the peel in the 750ml vodka in a wide 2 litre jar in a dark place for 8 days, shaking the jar occasionally.
Make a milk sugar syrup by dissolving 1 litre milk, 650g sugar & 1 tsp vanilla, whilst stirring over low heat.
Strain the lemon vodka with a sieve & muslin/cheesecloth. When milk syrup is cool, add to alcohol. Leave for 2-3 days, then bottle & drink. Store in fridge.
Pummelo Salad
Flake one Pummelo, 20mls lime juice and 20mls fish sauce over the pummelo and garnish with ½ tsp chilli flakes and 20 mint leaves.