candied orange peel

this is an old post from christmas time-ish that never made it up. although candied orange peel is definitely something i make more around the winter holidays than other times, it is by no means only a seasonal ingredient. you can put it in baked goods, or munch on it dipped in chocolate all year ’round.

i thought it would be a good idea to put pieces of candied orange peel in my christmas stollen along with dried cherries and apricots soaked in brandy.

turns out it was an awesome idea.

these sugary, tangy bits of heaven would also be super in chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, or muffins. they also weren’t half bad straight up by the handful.

start with an organic orange that you have washed very very well. in my opinion, it’s important to use organic for this technique because most of the bad chemicals get on or in the rind, which matters not when you’re tossing the peel. but here, you’re eating it.

cut a small piece off the bottom of the orange so it sits flat on your cutting board, and carefully use a knife to cut the peel off of the flesh. it doesn’t matter if there’s a little orange left on it, but you don’t want too much.

put the peels in a small pot covered in cold water and bring to a boil. drain, cover in cold water, bring to a boil again. repeat a third time. this extracts the bitterness and softens the peel.

next, the standard method is to cut the peel into long strips, candy them, and dip half in chocolate. you may have seen these at the godiva store.

instead, i decided to cube them, since i was going to cube them eventually anyway.

mix your sugar and water and bring to a simmer for a couple minutes. then add the peel and continue to simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the peels are translucent.

wait, how much sugar and water, you ask? it depends. the recipe i was using for guidance called for six oranges with a water to sugar ratio of 1:3. if you’re only using one orange like i did, make as much as you need to pretty much cover the peels in the pan following that proportion.

once they are translucent, remove with a spoon and toss in a little more sugar to coat.

make sure they are laid out in one layer, and let dry. it will take a couple hours. try not to eat them all in the meantime. yum!

fiddleheads!

fiddleheads are such a sign of spring.

they look like little curled-up leaves and stems, and that’s exactly what they are – of ferns.

as wikipedia says, “fiddleheads are available in the market for only a few weeks in springtime, and are fairly expensive.” i saw some the other day, and just had to try them. thanks, whole paycheck!

there was a special note with them that said to wash them very very well, and boil for 15 minutes before sautéing. now, that might seem a little rough for delicate young greens, but apparently they “harbor microbes” so you want to make sure anything on them is good and dead before consuming.

if the brown water is any indication, those microbes must be nasty.

i decided to toss them with roasted cherry tomatoes, capers, and pasta.

for the tomatoes, put them in one layer in a non-reactive (ie. not metal) dish, douse with olive oil and s&p, and bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

they should split open and juice everywhere, but not totally collapse.

when the fiddleheads are done boiling, drain them very well, cut off the ends if they are brown, and sauté with some onion.

toss everything with thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta.

four thumbs up!

chia seed pudding

there are certain readers of my blog out there who are going to think this looks and sounds like just about the nastiest thing they could think of. move right along.. that means more of it for the rest of us!

(it’s electric! boogie woogie woogie)

i am super-intrigued by chia seeds. how could you not be intrigued by something that was an as-seen-on-tv product during my youth, and is now featured on every fancy-shmancy cooking blog out there?

i’ve been saving a recipe for chia seed pudding for awhile now, and then when it showed up on the pain quotidian menu, i couldn’t help myself any longer.

chia seeds develop a jelly-like texture when mixed with liquid, so chia seed pudding is a lot like tapioca, but with seeds, like a raspberry.

plus, it’s waaaay healthy. according to wikipedia, “one ounce of chia seeds contains 9 grams of fat, 5 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of dietary fiber, 4 grams of protein, 18 percent of the recommended daily intake of calcium, 27 percent phosphorus and 30 percent manganese.” tasty and healthy, too.

so here we go:

mix together one cup of milk (i used unsweetened soy, but you could use whatever kind you use), 3 tablespoons of chia seeds, 2-3 teaspoons of sugar (depending on the milk you’re using and how sweet you like things), one teaspoon vanilla extract (the more expensive, the better), half a teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a small pinch of salt.

mix together well. you’ll find that cinnamon and chia seeds don’t like being mixed into cold milk, but eventually they’ll go.

refrigerate over night and give it the occasional stir as it thickens.

think of this recipe as a base for proportions. you could use different flavors than cinnamon and vanilla. or you could stir other things into the pudding when you serve it. or use chocolate milk. the possibilities are endless.

i had the leftovers for breakfast with blueberry jelly!

 

love it. making it again as soon as i can.