Currabinny Cooks: Brighten up your meals with oranges
Photo: Bríd O'Donovan and William Murray.
As is the dark, cold month of January drags and with everything that is going on in the world, we all definitely need a little cheering up.
The heavy, stodgy, rich food of the festive period might be beginning to weigh down on you. The short days and bone chilling cold, start to take their toll. The shining light of this post festive period is the abundance of fresh, perfectly ripe citrus fruits in all of the shops and markets.
The best of these and the one which is only really found at this time of year is the blood orange. They come from the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily and seem to be imbued with the same fiery red interior as the mountain is.
The moro variety is the one we see in January and it is the most luscious, deepest red, almost black of all the varieties. The colder weather in the higher altitudes of Mount Etna in January is the catalyst for the oranges turning red. The colder the winter, the darker the fruits. It is almost like nature's way of giving us back something which reminds us of brighter, sunnier times.
The blood orange is sweeter and generally juicier than other orange varieties. Their unique flavour actually seems to work better alongside savoury foods than other oranges. They pair wonderfully with salt, fennel, butter, cream, coriander, basil and black pepper.
Another delightful thing about blood oranges is that they come wrapped in beautiful waxed paper, with the grower or producers insignia on it.
Here are some recipes which hopefully show the range of different ways you can use blood oranges in the kitchen. They are also sublime simply peeled and eaten, or juiced.
This dish does everything blood oranges should do in a dish in these dark wintry days. The abundance of citrus fruits at this time of year is more than welcome. This is fairly simple to make, being just a tart case with a chilled blood orange curd filling.
Make sure you let the curd firm up in the fridge completely before spooning it into the tart case. This is to ensure no leaks or wet, soggy pastry. Try and use the most bloody, deepest red of your oranges for this to get a good bright colour. You will be able to identify the darker red ones as the colour will have spread generously onto the peel of the orange as well.
- 200g cream flour
- 50g ground almonds
- 50g caster sugar
- 100g chilled butter, cubed
- A little cream
- 2 blood oranges, zested and juiced
- 150g caster sugar
- 100g butter
- 1 tablespoon of cornflour
- 3 eggs
Preheat the oven to 180C.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, sugar and butter, working it into breadcrumbs with your fingers. Pour in a little cream to make a soft, pliable dough, kneading it a little on a prepared countertop. Wrap the dough in parchment and place in the fridge to chill for one hour.
To make the filling, combine all the juice, half the zest, butter and sugar in a small pot, heat over a medium heat for around 5 minutes until the butter has melted. Take off the heat. Whisk the eggs and cornflour together and carefully pour into the orange mixture, whisking the whole time. Pour into a bowl and place into the fridge. You want the filling to firm up a little before you pour it into the tart base, although to be safe you cane even wait till it has totally firmed up and spoon it into the tart base then. Sprinkle the finished tart with the leftover zest and serve.
We are burrata fiends in this house. You should be able to pick up some good quality burrata in a good cheese shop or Italian delicatessen. We would quite happily devour a ball of burrata, heavy with its creamy insides ready to burst out, all on its own. It is indeed a conundrum we have, what to pair this with? Burrata is so satisfyingly rich, on its own, that you wouldn’t want to overwhelm it with too many competing flavours. This is an adaption on an Ottolenghi recipe, or more of a paired down version. The bright, sweet, slightly acid flavour of the blood oranges pairs perfectly with the smooth, milky, buttery flavour of burrata. A drizzle of good olive oil and a few small aromatic basil leaves finishes this simple dish off perfectly.
Serves 2 as a light lunch
- 2 balls of good quality burrata
- 2 blood oranges
- A sprig or two of basil, leaves only
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Peel the blood oranges, removing as much of the pith along with the peel as possible. Thinly slice the orange and arrange in between two serving plates.
Place a burrata on each plate atop the slices of orange. Slice each of the burrata open with a sharp knife as you might do a poached egg, letting the creamy insides pour out. Season well with sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle all over with good quality olive oil and scatter a few basil leaves on each plate. Serve.
Blood orange is a surprising ingredient to use with salmon, but trust me, it enhances the subtle flavours and makes everything more zingy, fresh and vibrant.
- 1 fennel
- 1 blood orange
- 2 lemons
- dill
- 2 salmon fillets (roughly 300g)
- salt
- olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Preheat the oven to 150C Slice the fennel as thinly as possible and arrange on a plate. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the slices and sprinkle with salt. Carefully peel the skin off the blood orange and slice into thin rounds, arranging them with the fennel on the plate. Sprinkle one tablespoon of chopped parsley on top of the fennel and blood orange and cover with cling film. Leave in the fridge to marinate while you cook the salmon.
Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Place skin down in a small baking dish and squeeze half a lemon over the fillets. Slice the remaining lemon into thin rounds and arrange around and on top of the fillets. Sprinkle with parsley and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the salmon is slightly opaque.
Place the fillets on top of the plated fennel and blood orange and serve.
