Sunny Citrus Recipes 💕 + How to Use Lots of Citrus

Favorite citrus recipes & all the ways I put a big box of citrus to use. Oranges, Meyer & Eureka lemons, mandarins & grapefruits are all in the mix.

The abundance of homegrown citrus this time of year in Los Angeles is a peak reason I love being a Californian. You see front yard Meyer lemon trees groaning with yellow orbs. Pomelos and grapefruits frame driveways, and trees impossibly heavy with oranges regularly warrant a double-take. Being surround with this much citrus is happy-making. Especially if you can get your hands on it. And did I ever. My dad's neighbors generously dropped off a huge crate of Meyers, mandarins, oranges, and Eureka lemons the other day - a legit "bend-with-your-knees" box. So here I am jotting down the ways I've been using it, saving it, and the citrus recipes I've been making all week. I'm going to include the recipe for Orange & Garlic Citrus Paste & No-heat Meyer Lemon & Rose Geranium Syrup here in the newsletter, but(!) there are also recipes & tips for Meyer Lemon & Garlic Paste and No-heat Orange Syrup on 101 Cookbooks, so heads up on that front.....more recipes.  I thought I'd start by talking through everything I've done with citrus in the past week. It has been a mix! Kosho: I started a batch of Meyer lemon kosho. Kosho is traditionally a spicy, fermented Japanese Yuzu paste, but because lemons are more plentiful here, I tend to use them. Citrus Peel Pastes: I also blended Meyer lemon, Eureka, and orange peels into a number of quick (unfermented) pastes, and froze them in single use quantities. I use them to season and boost everything! From pastas and soups to rice bowls and roasted vegetable tacos. Most of the mandarins were simply peeled and popped into mouths, but a few have made it into my favorite citrus salad (I'll highlight that down below). Meyer Lemon & Rose Geranium No-heat Syrup: I love the intensity of no-heat syrups, and made a thick, intensely flavored Meyer lemon syrup by massaging lots of lemon peel with sugar and rose geranium leaves. Orange No-heat Syrup: Same process as the lemon syrup, but kept it to orange peel here. See the recipe below. Citrus Ice Cubes: After peeling citrus and making pastes or syrups, all of the juice was frozen in ice cube trays for future use in drinks, granitas, soups, etc. I mentioned all the ways I used this paste throughout the week down below & also in the main post. The main theme? Have fun and experiment! Be sure to peel all the pith from the peels. It's intricate work, but worth it. INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups / 6 1/2 oz / 185g orange peel (from ~10 oranges) 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt 2/3 cup / 100g peeled garlic cloves 1/4 cup orange juice 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil INSTRUCTIONS Place all ingredients into a blender. Pulse into a paste, scraping down the sides of the blender once or twice to get all the good bits mixed in. Refrigerate, and freeze any paste you won't use within the week. Makes about 1 1/2 cups   Print-friendly version + notes + details I love this salad. It has a mix of citrus segments, peanuts, red onions, a few saffron threads and almond extract along with good olive oil. The recipe is in Super Natural Simple which will be out next month. There's more information (and so many good soups & salads) here. Citrus peel pastes are fragrant flavor blasts. You can make them as simple or complex as you want. I tend to keep mine pretty straightforward, but love the addition of garlic - quite a lot of it. You might add spice blends, mix citruses, you could use other oils in place of olive oil, etc. Here's how I put them to use after making them:   Orange & Garlic Citrus Paste (recipe above) is super garlicky and was amazing combined with a healthy amount of cayenne pepper, water, and coconut milk to make a beautiful broth for soba noodles - season with more salt to taste to make it just right. I also put a dollop on my lunchtime chana masala and loved the way it brightened everything up. It was also incredibly good dolloped on top of a bowl of this Fire Broth Noodle Soup. And lastly, I used it as a finishing accent on roasted vegetable tacos (cauliflower & mushroom) on homemade corn tortillas. Orange & Garlic Citrus Paste is pictured above.   Meyer Lemon & Garlic Citrus Paste (recipe here) was perfect tossed with a bowl of pan-fried golden artichoke hearts. The next day I tossed a generous amount of the citrus paste with hot noodles, extra olive oil, pasta water, lots of scallions, a bit of torn mozzarella, herbs and broccoli - so good! And it was the perfect slather across the top of a simple buckwheat and gruyere crepe the other night. No problem if you can't find rose geranium, just skip it! And yes, you can certainly try this with standard Eureka lemons. INGREDIENTS 100 g Meyer Lemon Peel (from 8-10 lemons) 200 g sugar A few small rose geranium leaves 2/3 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice INSTRUCTIONS Place the lemon peel (no pith!), sugar, and rose geranium in a medium bowl.  Massage aggressively with clean hands for 5-10 minutes. Until sugar and citrus begin to meld and the peels begin to release their essential oils.  Cover and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Stir in lemon juice, re-cover, and refrigerate for another 12 hours or so, stirring whenever you remember. Strain syrup into container, pressing on the solids to get every last drop. Chop and save the peel solids for use in baked goods like biscotti, muffins, granola, shortbread, cakes, and the like. Makes about 1 cup.   Print-friendly version + notes + details More Fave Citrus Recipes //  A Range of Homemade Citrus Salts Two-ingredient Citrus Lollipops Blood Orange Gin Sparkler View this email in your browser   Important: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation took effect on May 25, 2018. You are receiving this email because you are currently on our mailing list and we would like to continue sharing recipes from 101 Cookbooks with you in the future. In compliance with the GDPR, we are committed to the protection and security of your contact information. 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