By Sidonie Maroon, a blue dot kitchen

I like to imagine tastes and smells living on musical scales. When we eat different foods in combination, they give us sensations in various keys. As cooks, we want the melody heard, the ingredients in harmony, with a periodic flavor rush to delight us. We don’t want — horrors — bland food.

Citrus, is the high soprano of our opera, and gives the electrifying wake up that our taste buds crave. Citrus brightens, allures, and heightens the flavors beneath. Citrus provides the cook with secret powers—important, especially in winter when brightness is necessary to our spirits.

Miraculously, amid winter’s gray we have not one citrus diva but at least ten great sopranos —  lemons, limes, oranges, clementine, grapefruit, satsuma, marmalade orange, tangelo, tangerine and pomelo. Each with their repertoires and strengths.

Clever with Citrus

Peels and Zest

I never waste the zest or peels of any citrus. I use them fresh or dry them for future use.

I save citrus rinds and dry them on a plate. When there’s a moment, I cut them into scissored strips. There is something about the white pith under tangerine peel and cutting thin lines. It feels purposeful like a school project. After a day, they’ll curl, and after three their spines bend like letters of the alphabet. If I were a seer, I’d read their messages, tossing a handful into the pot with green tea. Pouring from the kettle, I’d watch the steam rise loosed like air tongues, echoing the peel’s orange and yellow twists.

Lemons and Limes
Dynamic Acids

As a rule of thumb, add lemon and lime right before serving. Use them in salad dressings, salsa, chutney and other fresh sauces. They are best kept dazzling and fresh.

Roasting is the exceptions to the rule — both are fun to roast and caramelize with other flavors. I love carrots, fresh thyme and thinly sliced lemon roasted together. Lime and chilies roasted with root vegetables is delicious.

Lemons and limes are both important to squeeze on at the table, especially to soups and stews  Their acidity releases and amplifies the flavors already in the dish.    

Lemons — I love both the bright yellow tart acidic Eureka lemons and the Meyers lemons.

Meyers lemons aren’t true lemons but a cross between lemon and oranges or mandarins. They
have a thinner skin, are rounder, with a yellow-orange color. Although not sweet, they are less acidic and their zest and juice has floral undertones that add wonderful nuances to lemon dishes. I make preserved lemon relish, salad dressing and mayo with lemon juice and endlessly use lemon zest in baking and sauces.

Limes — lime zest is a wonder. Use in dishes south of the border — especially in salsa. Lime in combination with grapefruit make the perfect sour and bitter juice for bright fresh sauces. Limes sliced paper thin are great additions to salads.

Citrus and Raw Root Salads

Grapefruit, blood oranges and mandarins are marvelous sectioned and used as a component in salads made of grated roots. Make a dressing to match the salad by using some citrus juice and nut oils like walnut or hazelnut. Add toasted nuts to the salad for the perfect acid to oil mouthfeel. 

Ideas

Grated beets with mandarin, slivers of fennel bulb and toasted walnuts

Julienne celeriac with blood orange sections, salt and pepper and toasted hazelnuts

Grated carrots with Myers lemon, fresh thyme and toasted pecans    

Citrus Salad Dressing Ratios

Use 1 part fresh citrus juice to 2 parts oil

Here’s an example — enough for a salad for 2

2 tablespoons Myers lemon juice

4 tablespoons walnut oil

1 teaspoon lemon zest

½ teaspoon fresh thyme minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 salted anchovy chopped

1 clove garlic chopped  

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Blend in a mini food processor 

Sensational Citrus Recipes

Spiced Roasted Carrots with Citrus and Lemongrass

Serves 6

1 hour including roasting time

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

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

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon fennel seed

2 teaspoons coriander seed

2 whole cloves

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

Directions

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

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

Prep the carrots into thick matchsticks. Zest the citrus, and then 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.

Roast for 20 minutes. Stir, making sure you bring the carrots at the edges into the center, so that everything roasts evenly. Roast for another 15 minutes, tasting 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. Taste and sprinkle with finishing salt and lime juice to taste. Serve with cilantro leaves as a garnish.

Green Olive, Fennel and Orange Salsa with Fried Walnuts 

1 ½ cups

Quick and so delicious. If fennel isn’t 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 oranges  

1 cup fennel, minced

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.

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 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.

Ginger Carrot Citrus Salad

A delightful and invigorating salad.

Serves 3.

1 orange

3 medium carrots

1 cup finely chopped parsley

1 ½ Meyer lemon

Dressing:

2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

4 tablespoons olive oi

1 clove garlic

¾ inch fresh ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Grate carrots. Cut top and bottom off oranges and then cut away the peel and pith. Chop into small chunks. Prepare Meyer lemon in the same way, except even small pieces. Finely chop the parsley. Admire the rainbow on your cutting board! Put everything in your favorite salad bowl.

To make the dressing, blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Taste and adjust as needed. Pairs well with winter sunlight streaming through windows.  

Pickled Red Onions

Cebollas Encurtidas para Panuchos

Makes 3 cups

Quick

Ingredients

4 cups thinly sliced red onion rings, halved

1 cup bitter orange juice or substitute

½ cup water

1 teaspoon dried oregano

10 black peppercorns

3 allspice berries

1 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

Sea salt to taste

Combine for Bitter Orange Substitute

1 teaspoon grated grapefruit zest

½ cup orange juice concentrate

Juice of two limes plus zest

1 cup fresh grapefruit juice

Directions

Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute and then shock in ice water. In a serving bowl, add the drained onions, spices, salt and water to the bitter orange juice. If possible, set aside to pickle for two hours. Will keep for several weeks refrigerated.