Thursday, July 29, 2010

Aunt Mariam's Orangette

I never toss away orange and grapefruit peal, because I either make a citrus spice mix for hot chocolates and red wine sauces by drying and grinding the peels or a cut them into thicker slices and freeze to make orangettes. I learned this trick from my aunt Mariam, who adds dried orange peels to her Iranian dishes. Aunt Mariam is also a fan of a small chocolate treat in the afternoon that’s why we both share love for orangettes.

Aunt Mariam’s Orangette
1 cup of 2” orange and/or grapefruit peels
4 cups of boiling water
¾ cup of agave or 1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
32 ounces unsweetened chocolate or 32 ounces of sweetened chocolate of your preference¾ cup of agave (skip if using sweetened chocolate)
½ cup of unsweetened coco powder (optional)
Heat a kettle of water to speed up the process.
Place citrus peels in the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain water and rinse peels. Repeat.
Combine agave and water in a pot and bring the mixture to simmer. Add peels, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
Drain agave syrup in a glass container and place peels in a rack to cool and dry for about 15 minutes. Place a baking sheet under the rack for easy clean-up and reserve agave syrup for a ginger lemonade, margaritas, and poached fruit. The syrup stays fresh for about 2 weeks.
While peels are drying, melt the chocolate*.
Using chopsticks dip each peel in melted chocolate and place back on the rack.Orangettes stay fresh refrigerated for about 3 weeks in all-tight container**
Dust orangettes with cocoa powder. Once all peels are covered in chocolate place the rack in the fridge for 10 minutes or until the chocolate is firm.
** make sure to make them for your aunt.