It’s Citrus Time!

By Sidonie Maroon

Oranges, limes and lemons fill a wavy trifle bowl on my kitchen island. On this clear day, sunlight illuminates the glass, and I feel rich and content with my still life of glowing hues. I crave the Cara Cara oranges, and every day, put one in my pocket to enjoy halfway through my walk. Citrus is sensorially layered — the smell of the peel, the volatile oils that mist when it’s opened, the bright zest and painterly colors. Last weekend, I remembered a favorite citrus salad and couldn’t wait to recreate it. It combines oranges with kalamata olives and celery. Which made me wonder why citrus and salty work so well together? A margarita with lime and salt is the classic example, but there are more.

Salt and Citrus Bring Out Flavor

In my experience, salt amplifies the sweet taste and calms bitterness. Amazingly, salt and sour together allow hidden flavors to reveal themselves in a dish.Try adding lemon or lime to a soup with salt and you’ll discover what I mean.

Nuances of Sour

Like shades of a color in a painting, there are variations and nuances of sour. For instance, lemons and limes have a bright sourness. They pucker your mouth as you inhale their fragrance, but their flavor intensity soon dissipates. Cheeses, sour cream and yogurt are umami sour and meet a deep primal need. Vinegar has a sharp sour that reaches out and bites! 

Sour Enhanced with Salt

We enhance sours with salt, but which salty foods especially shine with citrus and why? Olives combine a deep umami fattiness with a salty brine. Both qualities contrast with bright sweet, acidic oranges. Roasted and salted nuts and seeds combine a heightened fatty savor with salt, and this compliments lime flavors, especially with fresh herbs like cilantro and mint. Salty cheeses like feta go well with lemons, because the acid helps to cut the richness while playing a high note to the cheese’s deeper tone.

Crunchiness Makes A Difference

Tip: Add a crunchy element to a citrus and salt combo. 

A Touch of Heat and Zest!

I’d lead you astray if I failed to mention that citrus, salt and crunch benefit from a touch of heat and the use of zest. Oranges with black pepper and cinnamon, lemons with mustard, ginger, garlic and medium hot chilies, limes and hot chilies, grapefruit dusted with black pepper.

Citrus and Salty Crunch Crushes

Raw turnips spread with a salty Myers lemon relish. Oranges with salt, pepper, black beans and tortilla chips. Avocado, grapefruit, black pepper salad  with crunchy and salty pistachios. Crisp red onion pickles brined in lime, grapefruit and orange with coriander and chili. Roasted oranges and lemons, mustard, carrots, thyme and crunchy chicken. Lemon and rosemary tart with coarse sea salt and candied spicy walnuts. Fish tacos with lime, avocado, chilies and cilantro in a crispy fried tortilla.

Citrus to Explore

Key limes, clementines, blood oranges, mandarins, satsumas, tangerines, pomelos, kumquats, tangelos.  

Citrus and Olive Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

Salad  

3 navel oranges, zest and slice off peel and chop

5 ribs celery, slice lengthwise strips and dice

1 cup parsley, chopped

½ cup pitted green olives, sliced

½ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced

Dressing

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon runny honey 

1 lemon, zest and juice

½ teaspoon whole coriander seed

½ teaspoon fennel seed

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1)    Arrange the prepped salad ingredients in a bowl.

2)    To make the dressing: use a spice grinder to grind the fennel, coriander, peppercorns and salt into a coarse powder. Using a mini food processor or by hand, blend the liquid ingredients with the spice mix until creamy.

3)    Dress the salad and serve. Excellent side salad for fish, poultry or chickpeas.

Spiced Roasted Carrots with Citrus and Lemongrass

Serves 6

These roasted carrots make an exciting vegetable side. They’re massaged with fragrant spices, roasted and finished with a glaze of honey, lime and salt.

Ingredients

6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick matchsticks

1-inch piece of peeled ginger, chopped

1 lemongrass stalk, use white part and chop

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon tamari 

1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

All the spice mix (recipe follows)

1 lemon, zested, the rind cut away and chopped with core removed

1 navel orange, zested, the rind cut away and chopped with core removed

2 tablespoons runny honey

Fresh lime juice to finish

Finishing salt to taste

Cilantro leaves to garnish    

Spice mix

Grind the spices in a spice grinder and sift through a sieve. 

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon fennel seed

2 teaspoons coriander seed

2 cloves

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

Directions

1)    Preheat the oven to 425 F. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2)    Grind the spices and set aside. In a small food processor: grind the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, sesame oils, tamari and salt into a paste. Stir the dry spices into the paste.

3)    Prep the carrots into thick matchsticks. Zest the citrus, cut away the rinds, cut out the core and chop. Put the carrots and citrus on the baking sheet and lovingly massage the paste in.

4)    Roast for 20 minutes, stir making sure you bring the carrots at the edges into the center, so that everything roasts evenly. Roast another 15 minutes, taste the carrots until they’re roasted to your liking. Drizzle on the honey, toss and return to the oven, allowing it to glaze the carrots for 3 minutes, making sure not to burn them.

5)    Taste and sprinkle with finishing salt and lime juice to taste. Serve with cilantro leaves as a garnish.

Green olive, fennel greens and Valencia orange salsa with fried walnuts 

1 ½ cups

Quick and so delicious. Perfect for a summer meal. Fennel greens grow wild where I live. If they’re not available parsley could be substituted, adding 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds. 

Salsa Ingredients

1 cup green pitted garlic stuffed olives, roughly chopped (Spanish gordels would be perfect)

2 small new onion bulbs, cut in half and thinly sliced, or use 1 bunch of green onion whites

2 Valencia oranges  

1 cup wild fennel greens, chopped

Juice of one fresh lime

⅛ teaspoon of cayenne pepper or Aleppo pepper 

Fried Walnut Ingredients

1 cup walnuts

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Sprinkle of Maldon flaked sea salt

Directions

For oranges

Cut off the tops and bottoms. Set the oranges on their bottoms, and with a knife, following the curve of the orange, cut off the peel and pith. Remove the sections from the membranes with your fingers. No need to keep them whole because they’ll chopped. 

Salsa

Add all the salsa ingredients to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Put the salsa in a serving bowl. You can make the salsa ahead and add the warm fried walnuts right before eating.

Fried Walnuts

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet on medium heat.  When hot, add the olive oil. Add the walnuts and stir, coating with oil, sprinkle on the smoked paprika and salt. Fry until fragrant about 1 ½ minutes. While still warm, chop and add to the salsa. Serve immediately.  

Orange and Lime Mint Chutney

Instant Pot 

Makes 3 cups

A chunky hot, sweet and sour, refreshing chutney. Perfect accompaniment to dal and rice.   

Ingredients

Dry roast 

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

¼ cup hulled sesame seeds

½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

½ cup cashews

1 cup cilantro leaves, washed and roughly chopped

1 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons pickled jalapeno

1 inch of fresh ginger, unpeeled, finely minced

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 tablespoons coconut sugar

Juice of two limes, about ¼ cup

Zest of both limes

½ cup fresh orange juice

Instructions

Using the Instant Pot on low saute, dry roast the first 5 ingredients, stirring frequently, until the coconut and nuts darken a few shades and the sesame seeds pop.

In a food processor, combine the dry-roasted ingredients with everything else and pulse until you have a chunky chutney. 

Transfer to a bowl and serve, or store and keep refrigerated for up to a week.