Orangettes...........

..........that's what I finally decided to make from the Oranges of Wrath. It's probably only fitting that a blog calling itself Orange & Salt should have to deal with oranges at some time or another (and with these trees dropping fruit left and right in the backyard, the time is now and the mood is somewhat desperate). Probably one of the nicest things that could happen to an orange is that it find its peel removed, cut lengthwise into strips, simmered gently in a bath of sugar syrup, sprinkled with crystals and finally robed in beautiful dark chocolate. I mean, if I was an orange, that's the way I'd want to go. Turn me into a classic French 'orangette.'

Something I feel you ought to know before we get started is that I love salt. I do. You might have, ah, noticed the name of my blog? One of the things to especially love about salt is the way it adds a sometimes badly needed edge to sweet things, especially fruit. The name of my blog, which could seem nonsensical without explanation, is based on my love of balance. Oranges are bitter, sour, and sweet all at once; salt is the natural balancing agent that, at least to weirdos like me, brings everything together in harmony. I actually do sometimes sprinkle a few crystals of sea salt on very sweet oranges before sucking away happily on their juices (not always oranges, you should try this on a perfect apple or a nectarine sometime! But the fact is that we live in Phoenix and there is usually a lot of citrus). Having said all that, I'm now actually tempted to rename these 'Orange & Salts,' because they owe a lot to the light, light shower of sea salt crystals I gave them right after sugaring them.

I've always been funny about desserts: I like them just fine, but I don't seem to have the taste for super sweetsweetsweet things on their own. When I first tried sugaring orange peels and tasted one in the process, I wasn't a huge fan. There's something almost, I don't know, 'childhood orange gummy candy' about them when they're so sweet. It's a lack of sophistication. Put it this way, orangettes without salt are like the girl next door. Pretty, very sweet, but a little annoying, to be honest. Orangettes with a hint of salt are like the same girl next door after she's gone away and studied abroad for a year, and come back with a sultry Parisian 'do and foreign perfume and a new air of mystery. There, does that make sense? Want to make some of these elegant little treats for your very own?

Start with fresh oranges, from your own backyard (organic!) if possible. What to do with all that lovely juicy orange flesh? Squeeze into a pitcher and drink, my friends. Remove peel from oranges and, with a sharp knife, slice away as much of the white pith as possible, leaving strips of pure orange peel. Slice into thin strips.

Blanch these peels quickly in boiling water three times, changing the water each time. Let the water boil first, then add the peels for about a minute, then remove and don't add them back until the new batch of water is boiling again.You do not want these to get too soggy (ask me about the failed batch I made the night before, when I made this very mistake. Go on, ask me), so keep their time in the boiling water brief. This 3 times thing may seem a little overly fussy, but it's important in that it removes most of the bitterness from the peels, and anyone who's ever bitten into a bitter orange peel won't make that mistake again. So blanch, blanch, blanch again!

Finally, make a sugar syrup that is equal parts sugar and water. Heat until all sugar is dissolved and syrup is nearly boiling, then add orange peels and reduce heat to simmer at medium. Simmer for 45 minutes, swirling occasionally (do not stir), then remove peels from syrup and let cool slightly. You can strain and save this syrup for use in iced tea or cocktails, it's a wonderful light golden color, super-sweet, and lightly scented with orange essence.

Toss the peels in granulated sugar to coat, spreading them evenly on a plate or other flat surface. Here's the important part: lightly sprinkle salt over the orangettes, then gently toss again. The key is to do it very lightly. Start with a tiny pinch, you can always add more. Taste once or twice to check flavor. They shouldn't taste salty, just sexy.

Let your orangettes set up for a few hours. When they have cooled and stiffened just a bit, prepare a dark chocolate bath. Ooooohhhhh.....a dark chocolate bath. ;)

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Holding them by one end (which I like to leave showing because the crystallized orange peel is so pretty in its own way), dip them carefully in the chocolate and lay on a sheet of parchment paper to cool.

If you're entertaining for Valentine's Day, these would be an impossibly wonderful treat to share with a glass of champagne. And if you're not.........you won't have to share. ;)

(Originally posted on 8/31/09)


HAZELNUT BROWN BUTTER CAKE.


Let me say those magical four words again: HAZELNUT BROWN BUTTER CAKE. This is the food of the angels. I want to serve this as our wedding cake! It's been a busy August in Laurel and Mike's Test Kitchen, between being housebound by the stifling heat and the being too broke to go out and socialize much. Besides, this one seemed special enough to warrant a special edition of Ye Olde Teste Kitchene, so here's the skinny on HAZELNUT BROWN BUTTER CAKE................it is amazing. Combining liberal quantities of toasted, ground hazelnuts with equally liberal quantities of brown butter and a surprisingly small amount of flour. Who needs flour when you have HAZELNUTS and BROWN BUTTER (why yes, the caps are absolutely necessary, as a matter of fact). Recipe comes from here, the smitten kitchen blog, although the original source of the recipe is credited as Suzanne Goin’s 'Sunday Suppers at Lucques' cookbook, which I now want to immediately buy and add to my arsenal of cookbooks. I admit to tampering with the recipe here and there, so your mileage may vary on this, but considering the raves going out on the internet regarding this wonderful, wonderfully delightful cake, I doubt you'll be dissatisfied with either version. Mine, for the record, was sublime. Chef Goin's is likely even more so. Even my vegan mother ate a piece I put in front of her (GASP! Okay, I did give her a warning that it was the most un-vegan thing imaginable, then mentioned that i'd turn a blind eye if she wanted to indulge and, well.......let's just say that it disappeared. We're asking no questions).

My variations were as follows:

+ Had no fresh whole vanilla bean to use, because I am not a rich person, and therefore used vanilla extract like a lowly peasant. Whatever.

+ Made mini-cakes in a cupcake pan instead of one large torte-like cake, because I (insert another GASP!) do not own even one cake pan. What can i say, I was never much of a baker? That is slowly changing, much to my ever-expanding waistline's chagrin.

+ Also, I added about twice the salt that Chef Goin's recipe calls for. I can't eat more than a few bites of most sweetsweetsweet desserts, and vastly prefer them with a little extra salt or bite or something to them besides sugar. I wasn't taking any chances with this one, and besides, nuts and brown butter seemed a good candidate for the salty-sweet flavor profile, and.........oh my god, I just said 'flavor profile,' let's move on, shall we? Ha ha.

+ I also had no electric mixer with which to beat my egg whites to the soft peak stage (am reeeeaally hoping our wedding registry will deliver in this area!*), and so had to beat them the medieval way, which may have resulted beaten egg whites that were slightly less aerated than was ideal. But hey.

+ finally, I swapped the powdered sugar called for in the recipe for white granulated because I don't like the powdery (duh) sickly-sweet taste of powdered sugar desserts. I also swapped the granulated sugar called for in the recipe for light brown sugar, thinking that between the less-beaten egg whites, the extra salt, and the lack of fluffy powdered sugar, I was in for a much richer, denser, more salty-caramelly-sweet cake than the original recipe.........and IT WORKED. It was dense but well-aerated and not at all bricklike, moist (god I really hate that word), tender, rich and brown and nutty. I dipped the tops of each in lovely real dark chocolate ganache made with lovely heavy cream (Oh god I am going to be 300 pounds by the time the wedding rolls around**), barely let them cool, and then Mike and I fell upon them like starving dogs. It was through a triumph of self-discipline and a not-so-minor sacrifice that we managed to transport some of the leftovers to my parents' for dessert the next night, so that they (veganism be damned) might also share in the unmitigated joy, the unbridled passion that is...........HAZELNUT BROWN BUTTER CAKE.

( Editor's Note, 1/22/09:

*I am proud to report that we have since received this beauty as a wedding gift since this post was originally penned, and therefore I may never beat egg whites by hand again. Never.

**I am also proud to report that at the time of our wedding I did not, in fact, weigh three hundred pounds, but by some miracle, considerably less than half that amount. Despite all the HAZELNUT BROWN BUTTER CAKE.)

(Originally posted 5/6/09)

In case any of you were wondering [of course you were] how Iron Chef Tempe: BATTLE BACON VS. APPLES ended up...........I won*!! On my birthday, which caused many accusations of cheating (and I was trying to lose! with dignity!!), but nonetheless, I am the proud continued keeper of the Iron Chef Cup.......at least until the next Iron Chef challenge, which I am of course now obliged to host. There are worse fates. Here is how I won:

...........two words: PIG CANDY. Caramelized, sugared bacon strips sprinkled with roasted pecans and drizzled with semisweet chocolate. This will either sound disgusting to you or unspeakably delicious, and if it is the latter, then you and I can be friends. Oh, and there was also a 'cocktail' that accompanied this, which I called 'The Suckling Pig': sparkling apple cider dosed with a shot of lightly salted rosemary simple syrup and garnished with a twist of cooked bacon. Virgin, but could have easily been 'spiked' with hard apple cider or rosemary-infused vodka, the possibilities are endless. Anyway, it was delicious. OH YEAH. All right, fine, I wasn't really trying to lose. I really wanted to win. Ha HA!!!

( *For my 28th birthday last year, we hosted an 'Iron Chef' style dinner party/competition, secret ingredients: bacon & apples.......extra photos from which can be found here, if you are so inclined.)