I hadn't intended to spend all day in the kitchen, but that's how it turned out. It all started with Tropical Fruit Ambrosia:
sections from 5 oranges
1 1/2 c. diced pineapple
1 1/2 c. diced mango
1/4 c. shredded coconut
1 T. Cointreau orange liqueur
Combine and refrigerate overnight. (Don't know how to cut a mango? Leave a comment and I'll tell you the easy way.)
I had orange peels left and realized I hadn't made candied orange peel in about a year. There's a good reason for that--it's time-consuming and tedious. But I had found a new recipe that looked better than the one I had (it is), and I had lots of orange peels left. And when I made another batch of ambrosia, I had enough orange peels to make candied orange peel. If you're going to do this, make it worthwhile. (Instructions below--and yes, it is SO worth making your own.)
So I made candied orange peel. And since it takes 3 hours to simmer once you've prepped the fruit, I stayed in the kitchen and puttered. I made a lemon pound cake. And dinner--chicken with pasta and broccoli from Cooks Illustrated--yum! And looked at recipes for dark chocolate cupcakes. And made a BIG MESS.
The big mess came when I had scooped the orange peels out of the syrup and had a lot of the orange sugar syrup left. Would it be worth taking it to the hard ball stage and making candy? (no--flavor not intense enough) In the process I got sugar syrup on a lot of pans and spoons and pretty much everything else. Which is why I spent the entire day in the kitchen, cleaning up. Next time just pour that leftover hot syrup into a foil-lined bowl, wait until it cools, then toss it out. Get the pot , spoons and everything else into really hot water right away to melt it off.
What to do with candied orange peel? Once you have it on hand, you'll find all kinds of uses for it. My plan is to finely dice some and add it to the chocolate cupcake batter. Add it to banana bread--spectacular! Salad: mixed greens with a light vinaigrette, toasted pecans or pine nuts, thinly sliced red or green onions, crumbles of Gorgonzola or goat cheese, and top with finely diced candied orange peel.
I know we'll get busy soon and I won't have as much time to spend in the kitchen, but for now it's nice to spend a whole day cooking.
Candied Orange Peel
adapted from Food & Wine
Magazine
makes about 6 cups candied
peel
5 lb. oranges, washed and
dried
8 c. water
8 c. sugar, divided
To peel
oranges: cut off top and bottom of
oranges, keeping these. Stand orange on
one of the cut ends. With a paring knife,
cut peel downward in about 1-inch strips around the orange, going all the way
down to the fruit. Set fruit aside for
other uses (see Kathy’s Tropical Fruit Ambrosia).
Put all of the
orange peels, including tops and bottoms, in a saucepan and cover with cold
water. Bring to a boil and then boil
another 3 minutes; remove from heat and drain. Repeat two more times. After
final cooking, drain and remove peels to a rack and cool 20 minutes or until
cool enough to handle.
At edge of cutting
board, flatten each strip with the peel side down. With a sharp knife, cut off white part as close to the peel as
possible and discard white part. Slice each strip lengthwise
into about 1/4-inch strips.
In a large heavy
pot over high heat, bring 8 cups of water and 6 cups of sugar to a boil. Add peels, reduce heat to maintain a steady,
gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until peels are tender, sweet and
translucent, about 3 hours. There
should still be plenty of syrup left in the pan.
With a slotted
spoon, remove peels from syrup and immediately spread out all the orange peel
on a wire rack set over a baking sheet (hint: put a Silpat liner under the wire rack). Let cool, then separate the orange peel strips on the wire
rack. Let sit until dry, at least 8
hours. Toss peels with remaining 2 cups
of sugar; shake off excess.
Store in an
airtight plastic container. Do not
refrigerate.
P.S. This year Starbucks has a "blended lemonade" with real lemon zest. "Blended" is the important part. If you just zest the lemon and leave the zest in your lemonade, it floats. And then you end up straining the lemon zest through your teeth. I'll probably skip that next time.
