I like these late in the year days. Expectations for ta-dum cooking go way down, my appetite for over the top eating is sated, and yet there are always a few Christmas goodies still tucked here and there. Leftover bits of fancy cheese, a few Marcona almonds, stocking chocolates or a stray slice of tart are still on my shelves. But generally the new year makes me crave more straightforward cooking. Something simple is satisfying.
Breaking down citrus and pears is easy. Here I broke down citrus and pears for a fruit salad, and made a syrup with a recipe from the January issue of Sunset magazine. To make the syrup, just simmer one tablespoon of candied ginger in one quarter cup of water, covered, for up to five minutes. Blend to puree.
To section and remove citrus peel and pith, first cut a slice across the top and bottom of the orange (across the sections). This will give you a stable base to rest on while you slice off the peel and pith.
Next, following the curve of the orange, slice down the sides remove all peel and pith, revealing the citrus sections.
Once you have removed all the peel and trimmed off any remaining pith, cut alongside the membranes which separate each section and lift the sections out. Alternatively, at this point you could choose to cut in to slices across the orange to cross section, rather than to individually section out each piece. For a fruit salad, I like to section it, if I were decorating a tart, I might prefer to cross section it.
Finally, when I have removed all the sections, I like to squeeze out any remaining juice. You can use this technique for all citrus fruits.
The technique for breaking down pears begins similarly. Remove a slice from the bottom of the pear to give yourself a stable base for cutting.
Next, follow the curve of the pear with your knife to remove the skin.
Once you have removed all skin, starting just at the outside of the core, slice straight down each side of the pear, creating four thick slices with a remainder of a four sided core.
Then take each of the four sections you created, and slice length wise into rough half inch slices.
Finally, I cut each length cross wise into half inch cubes.
This is also a good way to break down pears for a cobbler or other fruit dessert. For my fruit salad, I mixed some oranges, pears and grapefruit, gently mixed in the ginger syrup, and sprinkled with cinnamon. I will call it the New Year's Resolution Breakfast.
Thanks to my daughter for taking the photos.
I like that your New Year's Resolution starts with syrup. Thanks for the tutorial - now I feel kind of dumb for asking because it looks really easy. I will try out my new skills tomorrow when I make an orange-fennel salad.
Posted by: Heidi | 12/31/2009 at 09:56 PM