Orange Zested Sherried Mushrooms

I am constantly looking for new ways to do mushrooms.  This time, inspired by a cooking show (can't remember which) I combined orange zest, orange juice and sherry.  The results were fine but next time I'd put a little less sherry in and more orange zest.  The combination definitely worked though.

So I sliced up some white button mushrooms and sautéed with in a little bit of crushed garlic and butter (with a dot of oil to ensure the butter won't burn).

After a couple of minutes, add the orange zest (of 1 orange), the juice from the orange and 3 tablespoons of sherry (I would suggest 2).  Add a little chopped parsley at the end for colour.

You can cook this ahead of time and apparently the flavours will improve.

Orange Ginger & Honey Bacon

I'll be doing something like this again soon.  It is calorific so be warned.

Ingredients:

Bacon – thick cut would be best but I used streaky

Zest of an orange

Honey

Brown Sugar

Grated fresh ginger

Sprig of fresh rosemary (I don't think this really added anything)

Method:

Preheat your oven to quite hot say 200 degrees C (approx. 400F)

Put foil on the bottom of your baking dish or tray and then pop a wire rack over that.  This will save you a whole lot of clean up.

Brush each rasher with honey – I heated mine in the microwave so it was runny.

Mix together the zest, sugar and ginger and sprinkle it on each rasher.  Mine clumped a bit but still turned out tasty.

Cook for around 20 minutes until nice and done.  If you had thick cut bacon you might need a little more time.

Need Some Inspiration? Try Some Citrus Fruit!

Orange Juice Glazed Carrots

Food on Friday: March had some fabulous citrus recipes that caught my eye.

Linda from With A Blast brought over her wonderful Orange Juice Glazed Carrots

Orange Hazelnut and Caramel Vegan Loaf by Claire Justine

Orange Poppy Seed Loaf by Cooking Weekends

And here is my own Orange Marmalade (with a hint of vanilla & whiskey)

If you would like to check out more citrus fruit dishes just head on over to this Pinboard.

Orange Marmalade with a hint of Vanilla & Whiskey – well worth a reprise

This was the second time I made Orange Marmalade and this time I took some short cuts – and it still worked out ok.  The first time I slavishly followed a recipe which said you had to juice the oranges first and then cut off the peel (not getting any pith) and then cut the pith off and chop up the rest.  Well it took simply ages.

This time I prepped the oranges much more simply:

I washed them and then I roughly chopped them up – no juicing, no getting rid of the pith.  I didn't even worry too much about the pips.  If I saw one and it was easy to get to, I pulled it out.  In the original recipe it said to collect the pips and put them in a muslin bag and cook up in the pot and remove – what a fusspot.

I then popped it all into a stockpot (I had 1.5kg of fruit – just over 3 lb). I added the juice of 2 lemons and the zest of one.  Then in goes 5 pints (2.8 litres) of water.  You simmer that away for at least 2 hours – because I had left the pith in I wanted to be sure it wasn't too bitter so I did it for 3 hours.  When I looked into the pot at that stage I saw that some of the chunks of peel were really chunky – so I gave it about a 10 second whizz with a stick blender.  It went unclear in colour so I thought I had blown it – but as you can see it came nice and clear when boiled up with the sugar.

You add 2.7 kg of sugar (which seems a lot but remember the peel etc is quite bitter). 

I used a combination of white sugar and jam setting sugar.  If you don't have jam setting sugar (which has some added pectin), I suggest you just add the juice of another lemon.  I also added a splosh of vanilla extract and a spoonful of whiskey (both entirely optional).

Then you boil the marmalade rapidly for 15 to 35 minutes until it sets when you test it on a cold plate.  This one took about 20 minutes.  I always get very nervous at this stage as to whether it will set and also worried about making it too set.  There is no answer other than testing it every minute or so because it can turn quickly.

Then I let it cool in the pot for 15 minutes before decanting it into clean warm jars through my trusty jam funnel.  It made about 9 jars.  Because I don't sterilise the jars as such, I keep this in the fridge and it will last a few months.  I also put a wax paper disc on top of each jar which helps keep the air out.

Getting the most from your citrus

One little tip – when you are going to juice any citrus for a dish, take the zest off it before you juice it.  I use a microplane to do this but any fine grater would do it.

I tap the zest out on to a sheet of baking paper and leave it for a few hours to dry (protecting it from pesky flies etc) and then pop it into little glass jars to use as a little pep in lots of dishes.  If it is properly dry the zest will keep for months.