I fell in love with this picture a few weeks ago. It was posted by Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, CA, a place I have happily visited, spent several mornings and evenings peering in the windows and oogling their croissants on sky-high proofing racks. (I also visited when they were open I am most happy to say, but I confess to having a peculiar love of oogling through bakery windows). This photo made me feel nostalgic, a feeling that Thomas Keller is very good at evoking – if you peruse his books, websites, facebooks, and of course, the actual restaurants and bakeries, you know.
Luckily, I got my bad case of the “crankies” out yesterday. Today I am renewed and off on a myriad of new “streaming” ventures. (everything seems to be “streaming” these days). And so, I am off on a research trip regarding citrus.
try a slice of orange peel in your cup of tea – I love this!
As we all know, citrus season is officially here. Typically this means enjoying the sublime, simple pleasure of a juicy red grapefruit along with my breakfast, while George often will enjoy a navel orange as an after-dinner snack (this is after all the Christmas cookies are gone and he is sworn to reform). If you peruse the produce isles in the grocery stores you will see a wide array of offerings. I am now more intrigued with the rarer offerings that come into market at very specific times of the year. Last week I was coveting key limes so I could make The Breakers’ Key Lime Pie for Christmas dessert. Unfortunately, the season for key limes is May through August. This is a curious fact as most others are in season now. (There is definitely a “Winter-Citrus” season.) I had to resort to the bottled key lime juice I found which, did, in fact, yield a satisfactory result.
If you look around, you will find that a wide array of citrus exists that is not commonly known. Yes, there are the ubiquitous clementines whose cases are piled high in Whole Foods, but there are others worth considering. Here are a few of the more exotic, many born of the hybridizer’s mystical laboratories:
Bergamot – an orange-sized fruit with a pointed stem and a lemony taste – most commonly known as the fragrant ingredient of Earl Grey Tea – I totally love the alluring fragrance of the bergamot – this is sort of one of those unforgettables for me.
Pomelo (or pummelo): a cross between a grapefruit and a navel orange, is large mildly acid, with yellow-green skin and pink flesh
Ugli Fruit: a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit, it’s unfortunate name must keep it from being popularized
Etrog: a lemon-shaped, dry-fleshed citrus with a thick rind used for candy-ing
Minneola tangelo: has a loose rind, sweet-tart flesh and very appealing, more tangy than sweet flavor; a cross between a grapefruit and tangerine
Paige Mandarin: red-orange-fleshed cross between a minneola-tangelo and clementine
Oro blanco: cross between a pomelo and a grapefruit, has a thick rind and sweet taste
Kaffir Lime: Sour-tasting juice used in Thai cuisine and curries
These are all very interesting and worth trying out in various and sundry recipes. But, mostly right now, the object of my affections are Blood Oranges, Meyer Lemons and Key Limes.
I had been “casing” the local markets and internet for the past several weeks and asking for the arrival date of the year’s crop of blood oranges. There is no question that this is the time of year to enjoy the bounty of citrus crops and to try to come up with new and creative recipes to try. This year I even had a protracted conversation on the phone with a nice lady in California about the perfect time to pick this year’s crop of blood oranges and how I really would not be happy with what was available before Christmas. Undeterred, I happily grabbed some of the offerings from my local grocery store last week.
Having my mind attached to these almost-exotic offerings born of the photo from Bouchon, I immediately began a mental list: first, I felt that my big and fat tree was not as interesting as this Charlie Brown meets citrus fruits creation. Next year, that’s what I am going for. Then it is off to recipe iterations.
Here are a few suggestions I am going to try:
First, I am totally enthralled with Dorie Greenspan’s Ginger and Pink Grapefruit Cheesecake. This is number one on my list now – perhaps it will be dessert for New Year’s. I don’t see why this can’t be made with blood oranges as an alternative.
I mean, seriously, is this not beautiful?
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/photo/Ginger-and-Pink-Grapefruit-Cheesecake-236892
Perusing all sorts of baking books and sites presents options for scenting a myriad of baked goods with citrus: pound cakes, olive oil cakes, roulades, pie crusts, shortbreads, etc., etc. I always have a bowl of lemons and oranges on the counter and I honestly can’t think of many recipes, sweet and savory, which don’t benefit from an addition of their zests and/or juices. A great source to look at is “Warm Bread and honey cake”, a book I got from Britain, by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra. This is a wonderful book, filled with great recipes. Try: Tipsy Cornmeal Cake, well, the photos in this book are enchanting – so, take a look.
Meyer Lemons make me think of Chicken and my mouth starts to water. Try Anne Burrell’s Grilled Chicken with Dijon and Meyer Lemon.
Speaking of roulades, I found Chillingsworth’s Lemon Roulade recipe – Chillingsworth is a gourmet restaurant not far from our home on Cape Cod. This sounds lovely and worth trying with Meyer Lemons.
Mario Batali’s Chocolate Chip Orange Cannoli
Blood Orange Bellinis from Jean-Georges
Zesty Braised Chicken with Lemon and Capers
Martha Stewart’s Blood Orange and Pummelo Marmalade
and last, but not least for today, as this post is a getting a little long, The Breakers’ Key Lime Pie:
BREAKERS’ KEY LIME PIE – courtesy of Anthony Sicignano, Executive Chef
Crust: 8 oz graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
4 oz. butter
Melt butter and combine with sugar and crumbs. Press into pie plate.
Filling: 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
3 /4 cups fresh key lime juice (or bottled, if desperate)
Whisk together condensed milk and egg yolks until well blended. Slowly add in key lime juice and whisk until fully combined. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake at 325F for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and let come to room temperature. Chill well before serving.
This recipe can be doubled and baked in a springform pan. Note: This is what I did on Christmas Eve. While I did bake this longer than 20 minutes, apparently you don’t need to do so.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have noted that I am not a fan of sweetened condensed milk and cornstarch. While it appears that this is the standard ingredient of this “pie”, I have contacted Chef Sicignano again to discuss the ultimate texture of this confection. I will let you know if there are some other secrets to be had. If not, I plan on experimenting in my own kitchen.
I plan on continuing my travels through the world of citrus recipes. There is way too much here to explore – more than I can cover in one sitting. I will keep you posted. I am now going ice-skating on my driveway to retrieve the newspapers. It’s a good day for experimenting in the kitchen – have fun!
The Breakers’ Key Lime Pie – just out of the oven
my little paperwhites sitting happily in the window
Note: I now have an iphone5 and I don’t like what the flash on the camera does to the colors of the photos – this is another defect, as far as I am concerned of their newest phone. I like the camera on my old iphone much better.