That the year’s coldest, darkest season is also prime time for citrus feels like a small gift from nature. Just when we’re most in need of sunshine, weighed down by dreary weather and a steady diet of rich braises and stews, oranges and clementines, grapefruits and pomelos, even humble lemons and limes are shining their brightest, here to lift and lighten our meals and spirits alike.
Keep It Simple
With truly peak-season, high-quality produce, possibly the best thing to do is not much at all.“I thought it would be nice to have something full of freshness in the morning, or really anytime of the day,” Oliveira said. “It’s very simple, and you just need to get the right fruits for it—high quality and perfectly ripe.” While she’s partial to Texas grapefruit, you can easily substitute in other citrus.
She’ll often serve a traditional Moroccan salad of juicy orange segments with sticky Medjool dates and crisp shredded carrots, a “unique combination of soft and crunchy textures and sweet and sour tastes.” For the dressing, she combines a freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice, black pepper for some kick, and orange blossom water—often made from home-pressed orange oil in the Moroccan countryside, where orchards are common, Riolo said—for an aromatic finish.
Another Moroccan classic, a simple platter of spiced oranges, makes for an easy yet elegant dessert, a crowd-pleaser on Riolo’s tours. Her barely-a-recipe recipe, inspired by the breakfast served at a favorite riad in the old town of Fes, tops thin orange rounds with honey, cinnamon, and sliced almonds. Other versions may swap the honey for granulated or powdered sugar—or omit it entirely, as the oranges are often sweet enough on their own—and add a splash of orange blossom water.
For a more involved dessert, cookbook author and food stylist Jason Schreiber shared a recipe from his baking book, “Fruit Cake”: a polenta pound cake spiked with orange zest and liqueur, served with saucy spoonfuls of spiced mandarins. The starring mandarins get gentle treatment, simply left to lounge in a bath of more orange zest and juice, orange liqueur, and whole spices for an hour or more.
Schreiber often bakes with sharper-flavored citrus, or cooks it into curds for filling cakes and pies, “but for delicate citrus like mandarin oranges,” he explained, “you'll get the most bang for your buck by keeping the fruit out of the oven and spooning it over slices of cake.
A Finishing Touch
While citrus fruits can easily take center stage, they’re most versatile in playing a supporting role. Most dishes will benefit from a finishing squeeze of lemon juice: roast chicken or Brussels sprouts, fried fish or steamed mussels, a simmering pot of soup or stew.No Peel Left Behind
Before you get zesting, Beverly Luk, pastry chef at Miro Kaimuki and Hau Tree Lanai in Honolulu, has a word of caution: “Don’t ever zest [citrus] in advance for recipes. Zest it right into the batter if you are making a cake or pancakes. The natural essential oil is the key, and it will get lost if you transfer the zest from container to container.”Still, while fresh is best, zested in advance and stored for later is better than wasted—the fate of all too many citrus peels, thrown away after their insides are juiced or eaten. Before you cut open that lemon or orange, Luk offers a suggestion: “Zest it over a bowl of sugar. You will end up with the best sugar for all your wonderful baked goods!”
Riolo, meanwhile, always stores extra grated zest in between paper towels, or strips of peel on their own, in a sealed plastic bag for up to a week; for longer storage, keep it in the freezer. Make it a habit to zest every lemon, lime, and orange that passes through your kitchen, and you’ll always have a supply of kitchen gold on hand.
If you can’t be bothered with all that zesting, though, Schreiber has another sweet solution: “Candied citrus peel is a fantastic way to use a part of the fruit that often gets thrown away. You can make it from virtually any citrus.” Once you’ve tried the freshly candied stuff, he writes in “Fruit Cake,” “you’ll never waste your time with the store-bought drudgery.”
The Whole Fruit
Then, of course, there are the ways to directly use the whole citrus fruit all at once.It’s a shortcut to the filling of the famously frugal Shaker lemon pie, originally from the Shakers, an early 19-century religious group with communities from New England to the Midwest. The original pie recipe involves slicing whole lemons paper-thin, macerating them in sugar, and mixing them with eggs to bake into a bitter-sweet-tart filling.
Casey simply blitzes all the ingredients in a blender until smooth—a ratio of two lemons, four eggs, and two cups of sugar—and cooks the mixture on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula to keep the bottom from burning. When the curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, it’s ready—to pour into pie or tart shells, spread between cake layers, or swirl into yogurt. The method works well with “any citrus that is juicy and has a flavorful peel,” Casey said, though sweeter varieties will need less sugar. “Yuzu, lemons, Meyer lemons, and oranges are great for this.”
If you still find yourself with an excess of citrus fruits, preserve the harvest—especially specialty varieties you won’t find year-round. Marmalade is a classic, but for a savory condiment, try your hand at salt-preserving.
