{Les autres agrumes, le retour} Salade d’oranges sanguines, mais pas trop
par Darya
La pleine saison des agrumes est de retour, et j’ai donc décidé de redonner vie à ma rubrique intitulée « Les autres agrumes », consacrée aux différents agrumes que l’on trouve – plus ou moins aisément d’ailleurs – en cette saison. Dans cette rubrique, j’essaie de ne pas m’en tenir aux traditionnels citrons, oranges et clémentines, et je mets plutôt en scène les kumquats, cédrats, bergamotes, oranges sanguines, amères, et autres limes et pomélos (recettes à venir). Si vous jetez un coup d’œil aux pages consacrées à ce sujet, vous verrez que j’aime utiliser les agrumes, même les plus sucrés comme l’orange sanguine, dans des plats salés. Mais aujourd’hui, j’ai eu envie de préparer une salade de fruits, tout simplement.
Cette salade de fruits est très basique : on coupe les fruits, on les arrose d’un sirop à base de jus d’orange réduit, on parsème de menthe pour un peu de fraîcheur, et on dévore. Ça se mange sans faim, au dessert, au goûter, ou même au petit déjeuner. L’orange est ici l’ingrédient principal. Je vous ai déjà dit que mon groupe d’amis lillois était composé de nombreux gourmets-gourmands, amoureux de bons produits et de bonne tortore. Un de ces amis m’a récemment parlé d’une association locale qui importait des agrumes bio directement de Sicile et à des prix défiant toute concurrence, à condition d’acheter un nombre suffisant d’agrumes pour que cela soit rentable pour le producteur (vive la vente directe et vive internet… dans ce cas précis). Je me suis donc retrouvée la semaine dernière avec une douzaine de kilos d’oranges Tarocco, une variété « demi-sanguine », très populaire en Italie. C’est une variété amusante, car on ne sait jamais si l’orange va être plus orange ou plus sanguine (bon, si l’écorce est un peu rouge, il y a plus de chances qu’elle soit sanguine, mais parfois on a des surprises). Cette variété est sucrée et juteuse à souhait, et parfaite à la fois comme orange de table et comme orange à jus. Et en plus, elle est très jolie. Le Grand et moi avons liquidé huit kilos de ces oranges en une semaine (la plupart a été mangée telle quelle, debout devant la corbeille de fruits, mais j’ai aussi préparé un cake et du poulet rôti à l’orange et à la lavande). Pour composer cette salade, j’ai également choisi des fruits de saison aux couleurs vives : kiwis et grenades. Le tout est servi nappé de sirop d’oranges caramélisé à la vanille, et parsemé de feuilles de menthe fraîche, ce qui est certes classique, mais vraiment bon.
Ingrédients (pour 3-4 personnes)
– 3 oranges Tarocco (ou des oranges sanguines, ou n’importe quelle orange bien sucrée)
– 2 kiwis mûrs mais encore fermes
– Environ 2 c. à soupe d’arilles de grenade fraîche
– 6 feuilles de menthe fraîche, lavées, séchées et finement ciselées
– 1 c. à soupe rase de sucre de canne blond
– 1 grosse pincée de vanille en poudre (soit les graines d’environ 1/4 de gousse de vanille)
Recette
– Couper les extrémités de deux oranges. Poser chaque orange sur une des extrémités coupées et les peler à vif, au moyen d’un couteau bien aiguisé (ou à dents), en suivant la courbure naturelle des oranges. Couper ensuite les oranges en tranches d’environ 5 mm d’épaisseur. Peler les kiwis et les couper en tranches d’environ 5 mm d’épaisseur ou un peu moins. Disposer les oranges et kiwis dans une grande assiette creuse et parsemer d’arilles de grenade.
– Couper la troisième orange en deux dans le sens de la largeur et la presser. Prélever 4 c. à soupe de jus d’orange et les verser dans une petite casserole. Ajouter le sucre et la vanille en poudre. Bien mélanger. Porter le jus à frémissements sur feu moyen-doux et le faire réduire jusqu’à ce qu’il ait épaissi et qu’il ne reste plus que deux cuillers à soupe de jus ; cela prend environ 10 minutes. Laisser refroidir avant de verser sur les fruits.
– Laisser la salade reposer au réfrigérateur, au moins 30 minutes. Parsemer de menthe fraîche finement ciselée et servir bien frais.
Bon appétit !
The English-speaking corner
Tarocco orange salad
The season for interesting citruses is in full swing now, and as in the previous years, I have been trying to get my hands on as many different sorts of citruses as possible (and let me tell you, some are not at all easy to come by in my area). In the previous years, I managed to share recipes not only for oranges, but also for kumquats, citrons, bergamots, blood oranges, Seville oranges, and I am planning on sharing recipes for limes and pomelos in the near future. If you take a close look at those recipes, you will notice that I enjoy using citruses in savory recipes, even when they are as sweet as blood oranges. But today, I craved a fresh and simple fruit salad.
This fruit salad is as simple as it gets: slice the fruit, baste it in a vanilla-orange juice syrup, sprinkle with mint leaves, refrigerate, and devoure. You can eat this at any time of the day: dessert, mid-afternoon snack, or even breakfast. In this salad, oranges are the main ingredient. I have already mentioned that my group of friends in Lille is made of real gourmands, lovers of good-quality produce and home-made cooking. One of these friends is a member of a citrus-lovers association, which imports organic citruses from Sicily, directly from a farmer near Catania. This is one of the things I love about the Internet: getting the best produce there is, directly from a real human being, at a much cheaper price than the Sh%*#t sold at the supermarket around the corner for twice the price. The only condition is to buy large quantities of fruit. So last week I ended up with 12 kilos (26 lbs) of Tarocco oranges, a « half-blood » variety, which is very popular in Italy. It is a fun variety of oranges, because you never know whether it will be more blood, or more orange (well, if the skin is redder, chances are it will be a bloodier orange, but I’ve had a few surprises). This variety is juicy and very sweet, and perfect both for eating, and juicing. I gave away a few kilos, and the two of us ate 8 kilos (17 lbs) in one week, mostly just like that, standing above the fruit bowl, but I also made a delicious pound cake, and a roast chicken with oranges and lavender. For this salad (the last of our oranges, until the next delivery arrives), I chose seasonal and colorful fruit: kiwis and pomegranates. I made a syrup of reduced orange juice and a little vanilla powder. And though I am aware that sprinkling orange salads with mint is quite banal, I must say there is a very good reason for doing so: it works. And that’s why I do it.
Ingredients (for 3 or 4 servings)
– 3 sweet oranges (Tarocco, or other types of blood oranges, or any sweeter variety of orange)
– 2 kiwis
– About 2 Tbsp pomegranate arils
– 6 fresh mint leaves, washed, dried, and finely chopped
– 1 level Tbsp sugar
– 1 large pinch vanilla powder (scraped beans of about 1/4 vanilla pod)
Recipe
– Take two oranges. Cut off the ends of the oranges and stand them up on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, follow the natural curve of the orange, removing all the skin and white pith. Then slice each orange into 5 mm slices (about 1/4 inch). Peel the kiwis and cut them into 5 mm slices (about 1/4 inch). Place the kiwis and oranges in a pretty shallow plate. Sprinkle the pomegranate arils over them.
– Cut the third orange in half, and juice it. Put 4 tablespoons of the juice in a small saucepan along with the sugar and vanilla. Stir. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then allow the juice to reduce by half, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. It should thicken a bit. Let the syrup cool before pouring over the fruit.
– Refrigerate the fruit salad for at least 30 minutes. The fruit will release some of its juices. Remove from the refrigerator, sprinkle with fresh mint, and serve.
Bon appétit !
Magnificent–sometimes the best way to enjoy citrus this season is to do so simply as it comes.
Thanks, Elizabeth. We love oranges eating oranges plain in this house but I have to say these were really special!
Elle est magnifique cette salade de fruits. Malheureusement servir une salade fruits à la maison serait un motif de divorce. Mr déteste, je n’ai aucun soutien non plus du côté des enfants. Je me contente donc de déguster en jus ces délicieuses oranges siciliennes!
Merci Anne. Dommage que les tiens ne soient pas fans de salades de fruits, de ce côté-là je n’ai pas de problèmes. Mais je dois avouer que j’ai eu du mal à empêcher le Grand de tout manger juste comme ça (même le jus pour lui est une transformation inutile), et c’est vrai que ces oranges sont vraiment exquises telles quelles.
C’est bien….je commence à trouver des idées pour utiliser les oranges!…..
Super… enfin, tes idées seront peut-être devancées par ton envie de tout manger tel quel !
I just picked up a bag of both blood oranges and cara cara oranges and I’m excited to use them this week. Your photos are lovely and I think the syrup you created would be wonderful drizzled over fresh spinach or arugula.
Thank you, Allison. Be careful with the syrup if using on greens. Mine turned out quite sweet even with only one level spoonful of sugar. I’d want to scale down the sugar if using for a salad.
Une salade super vitaminée comme j’aime.
Merci !
Wow what a beautifully colourful dish!
You really need all this color to make up for the grey weather outside!
I like the colors of blood orange. I haven’t been working with fruits lately. This post got me craving oranges. Nice photos
I usually just eat fruit « in the nude », but this was too good an occasion to let it pass. I just ordered 12 kilos of Seville oranges, I am dreaming of making Kibbeh arnabiyeh… kind of scared I’ll fail though… do you/your family make it?
Lucky you. I don’t know any farmers, and I don’t have a space to store large quantities.
We don’t cook kibbeh arnabiye. It’s not in our repertoire
Well, I must confess I don’t really have the space either, the boxes of oranges will just end up on the floor in the middle of the living room 🙂 But I’ll be making tons of marmalade, which should solve part of the storage problem.
So fresh and beautiful!
I love citrus salads. In fact, I made a simple one just 3 days ago for guests. Yours looks MUCH better than mine. 🙂 LOVE your addition of kiwi…it makes the salad even more beautiful! Delicious!
I have been able to get really good kiwis this year, perfectly ripe and firm, not soft and mushy. I love adding kiwi to fruit salads when I can, as I don’t really know how else to use it.
A beauty with full of colors, very refreshing and flavorful salad. I love the dressing!
I was thinking of adding orange blossom to the dressing, but then I tasted it, and it was sweet and heady enough to my taste!
I love citrus salads! I’ve made a few in the past couple of weeks. So refreshing!
Exactly. Citrus salads are like summer on a plate… love them!
I wish we had such an amazing variety of citrus here in South Africa! We do have pretty amazing oranges and grapefruit, and I can’t wait for pomelos to come around so I can try my hand Ottolenghi’s Pomelo salad from Plenty More!
By the way, I tried my hand at your grape foccacia. It’s an amazing recipe! After making it twice I decided to put it on our Christmas menu last year. Everybody loved it 🙂
I live in Northern France, so none of these citruses are actually local, but those I get are from the South or from Italy, which produces most of the interesting varieties, such as citrons and bergamots. The season for all these is short and you have to know where to look to find them… but they are worth it!
Thank you so much for the feedback on the grape foccacia! I am happy you liked it so much! Made my day.
Elle est tellement belle cette salade! Et la menthe – divin!
Merci ! La menthe dans une salade de fruits, j’adore. C’est encore plus rafraîchissant.
This looks so good. I should join the citrus association. I never understood why citrus always become in season in the dead of winter. The best I can do is get clementines from Spain. I really would love to try a bergamot or a Sevilla orange, which I’ve never seen outside of Sevilla. I love the addition of mint here and the beautiful color of the orange…and that plate alone and filled with fruits. What a great salad. I’m craving some citrus right now.
I think « Mother Nature » knows that we need more vitamins during winter; so She sends us citruses. I just ordered 26 lbs Seville oranges from the citrus lovers association! Marmalade is on the menu. I do think I’ll eventually become a member. It’s a pity you don’t get fun citruses like bergamots in the US, but you have other fun stuff, like finger limes, or Cara cara oranges, which are virtually impossible to find here!
Very true. 26 lbs?! Amazing. I seriously need to start citrus shopping. Or shopping in general. I just got home yesterday and there’s nothing here. I have a macaron making class tonight, which should be fun. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go shopping. I seriously have nothing in the house!
Yup, 26 lbs bitter oranges, 12 lbs blood oranges (the same as those in the salad), and another 12 of mandarins + 2 citrons, for pickling or candying (I haven’t decided yet).
A macaron class sounds fun; I tried makind them once and succeeded (though they were quite ugly), but it was an exhausting and nerve-recking business; I think if somebody had shown me how to do it, it would have made my life easier. Have fun!
Une salade vitaminée que de dévorerais avec gourmandise tant je raffole de tout ce qui la compose ! J’aime beaucoup le mélange de l’orange sanguine, du kiwi et des arilles de grenade … Et la petite touche de menthe est juste parfaite ! Un vrai délice !
Bises et belle soirée !
Merci Lyne. C’est tout simple, tout bon ! La menthe ajoute une petite touche de fraîcheur bien agréable, j’adore l’associer aux oranges !
C’est magnifique, haut en couleurs, j’adore!
Mmmmh, this looks like packed with vitamins, full of taste and life!
Hi, Darya–I had to chuckle at the title of this post as I ran through the half-dozen posts of yours that I’ve missed recently. « …mas pas trop. » Ha! Very lovely salad, although now I’m envious of your Tarocco oranges – the color is magnificent. What a treat to open the refrigerator door and find a container of this salad inside (with perhaps, some of that French yogurt that comes in those little ceramic pots). Ciao. Ken
Hello Ken, yes, we’ve been enjoying huge amounts of Tarocco oranges, they are beautiful and delicious. I’ve made cakes, jams, chicken, salads (sweet and savory), but mostly we’ve just been eating them plain. I didn’t even think of serving fruit salad with yoghurt, but it’s a great idea. I’ll do that next time.