When most people thing of oranges, the first thing they think is juice. There are many ways that you can use the flavor of orange in your dishes. You can use the juice, the segments, and gratings from the peel. In the following dishes, you will see examples of all three.
The first recipe, Creole Orange Glazed Ham, uses all three. The second, Fennel and Orange Salad, uses the interior segments. The last one, Orange Pound Cake, uses the juice and peel. When you get back home from the store with the most used fruit in the world, Let’s head to the kitchen!
Creole Orange Glazed Ham
A ham is a great entree for a Sunday dinner. Here is a great glaze that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. It’s a great balance between sweet and tart.
1 20-pound ham, scored
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons Creole mustard
8 thin orange slices, unpeeled
Preheat oven to 350℉.
Spread surface of scored ham with orange juice, orange peel, sugar, and Creole mustard. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, basting every 15 minutes or so. When ham comes out of the oven, garnish with orange slices and rest for at least 15 minutes.
Fennel and Orange Salad
This refreshing salad is a great compliment to any meal. It’s a refreshing dish in the middle of the meal.
1 large fennel bulb, cord and thinly sliced, 1/4 cup fronds reserved for garnish
1 large navel orange, zested, peeled sliced 1/2-inch thick, and quartered
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 ounces fresh baby arugula
In a medium bowl, combine fennel slices, orange zest and quarters, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
In a serving dish, toss together arugula and marinated fennel and oranges. Garnish with fennel fronds.
Orange Pound Cake
Pound cakes bring back many childhood memories. This basic dessert lends itself to many different varieties. Here’s an orange based cake.
For the Cake
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Glaze
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 300℉. Grease and flour a tube pan.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour in two additions and mix until combined. Stir in orange juice, orange zest and vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, approximately one hour. Remove from oven, cool for 30 minutes, and turn out onto a plate.
In a bowl, whisk together orange juice and powdered sugar. Pour glaze evenly over cake.
With the versatility of the orange, you can use it in any menu category as you wish. Not any part of the orange goes unused. Bring orange into your dinner recipes. For a twist on a classic, use orange juice in place of lemon juice for Hollandaise sauce. People will marvel at your culinary knowledge. Just a word to the wise. Don’t try to use orange in a poem. There are only two words that rhyme with orange. I actually looked that up. They both are words I never heard of. I guess I’ll stick to using oranges in my recipes.
Comments