Cape Town - Golden lemons, orange naartjies and minneolas, ruby grapefruit and decorative kumquats share warm hues, make great garnishes and are indispensable ingredients in savoury and sweet dishes. Affordable lemons and pricey limes are high in vitamin C while limes also boast a potassium content. Oranges are a good source of vitamins A and C along with essential minerals.
Perennial classics such as lemon meringue pie will always give pleasure, and both oranges and lemons make for cakes with distinctive flavour.
Duck with orange is hard to beat, and baby beetroot tossed in orange juice and butter lifts this health-giving root vegetable to new heights. Orange and lemon juice add punch to vegetable soups, to roast chicken, and form the base of umpteen sauces.
While lemons don’t seem to have dropped much in price yet, it’s already possible to find bags of bargain-priced oranges.
Preserved lemons or limes
This is an easy preserve and useful for flavouring stews and casseroles, seafood and poultry. It is an essential ingredient in Moroccan tagines. This recipe comes from Make Give Sell by Callie Maritz and Mari-Louis Guy published by Human & Rousseau. Other preserved lemon recipes suggest you soak the lemons in water for up to 2 days first, then quarter them from top to within 1cm of their bases, sprinkle salt over the flesh and reshape the lemons. You could also add bay leaves and black peppercorns to the jar.
7-8 lemons or 15 limes, well scrubbed
100g (half cup) coarse sea salt
Additional lemon or lime juice
Halve the lemons or limes. Rub the exposed flesh well with salt. Tightly pack the lemon or lime halves in a large sterilised jar and add the remaining salt. Cover and leave overnight. The next day, press down on the fruit to get the juices flowing. Repeat every 2-3 days until the lemons are covered with liquid. If there is not enough juice, add freshly squeezed juice to cover them.
They should be ready for use after 3-4 weeks, or when the skins have softened, and will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Easy lemon puddings
Nothing beats a fragrant, hot, lemony pud as a finale to a weekend supper or Sunday lunch. Old-fashioned goodness, updated by being served in an ovenproof cup, these delicious desserts are fine on their own, but you could offer vanilla ice cream on the side. This version comes from The Instant Cook by Donna Hay, published by Fourth Estate.
90g soft butter
One-and-half cups castor sugar
One-and-half cups milk
3 eggs, preferably free-range
Half cup lemon juice
Half cup cake flour
1tsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, lemon juice, flour and baking powder in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour mixture into 6 greased 1-cup capacity ramekins or ovenproof teacups and bake for 20- 25 minutes until golden. Serves 6.
Stir-fried chicken, lemon and capers
This piquant Mediterranean stir-fry takes 15 minutes to prepare and another 15 to cook, after which you have a fresh, flavour-packed meal that only needs either creamy mashed potato or brown rice or small pasta shells to accompany. If you don’t have basil, parsley could be used, or try rosemary sprigs, which will give the dish a different flavour slant. Find the recipe in The New Stir-fry Cookbook, published by Woolworths – which isn’t new at all, since it first appeared in 1998.
Olive oil
1 red onion, cut into thin wedges
25g butter
800g chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
Rind of 1 lemon, cut into thin strips
2T baby capers, rinsed and drained
80ml (one-third cup) lemon juice
Quarter cup (about 15g) fresh basil leaves, shredded
Heat the wok until very hot, add 2 teaspoons of oil and swirl it around to coat the side. Add the onion wedges and stir-fry until softened and golden.
Remove from wok and set aside. Reheat the wok, add another 2 teaspoons of oil and half the butter and stir-fry the chicken in two batches until browned, adding more oil and butter between the batches. Return all the chicken and the onion to the wok.
Stir in the lemon rind, capers and lemon juice. Toss well and cook until warmed through.
Add the shredded basil and season the dish with salt and butter. Serves 4 with a carbohydrate accompaniment.
Avocado, orange and almond salad
A salute to Spain! This seasonal salad looks beautiful, is packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre, and takes little time to prepare. If you cannot find good ripe tomatoes, omit them rather than using watery, pale specimens. Do splash out on a good South African olive oil for the dressing – our products are superior to most of the cheap southern European imports. The recipe is from Essential Mediterranean published by Hermes House.
2 oranges
2 small tomatoes
2 avocado pears
4T extra-virgin olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1T chopped fresh parsley
1 small onion, preferably red, sliced into rings
Salt and ground black pepper
25g (quarter cup) flaked almonds
10-12 black olives, stoned
Peel oranges and slice thickly. Plunge tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds, refresh in cold water, then peel off skins. Cut into quarters, squeeze out most of the seeds and chop roughly. Halve the avos, remove the stones and cut into chunks . Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and parsley and season the dressing. Toss the avocado and tomato in half the dressing. Arrange the sliced orange on a platter, scatter over the onion rings and drizzle over the remaining dressing. Spoon the avo, tomato, almonds and olives on top. Serves 4.
Handy tips
l Pop lemons and oranges in the microwave oven for 10 seconds on full power before squeezing.
l Make a delectable Egyptian soup with leeks, celery, potato, garlic and baby marrow, spiked with the juice of two lemons and a small handful of chopped mint.
l Use fresh orange juice and the grated zest to add punch to carrot soup.
l Use fresh orange juice instead of water to cover sliced sweet potato, sprinkled with cinnamon, topped with knobs of butter, and baked until tender.
l Combine grated rind and juice of an orange with pickled herrings, creamed horseradish and thick cream for an unusual paté.
l Use lemon or orange juice instead of water to make a glace icing for cupcakes, ginger squares or shortbread.
l Orange butter is great for spreading on sweet breads, scones and flapjacks – mash 125g butter with 1Tbs orange juice and 1Tbs finely grated rind.
l Keep a lemon half in the fridge to squeeze on to your hands after dealing with raw onions. Keep lemons in the kitchen, the bathroom and piled into a bowl on the dining room table – they are cheaper than cut flowers. - Cape Argus