Sorbetto Ghiacciato Arancia Sanguigna
This was the weekend for my retroactive/reverse order bachelorette party-of sorts. Last year before getting married, I was convinced I wasn't the kind of girl who was into things like bachelorette parties. I'm not really. But presented with the notion of throwing a gals-only party for and with the women in my social circle, I decided it was an appropriate occasion to share the womanly embrace with the virtual community out there following this lusty month of May's Sugar High Friday. The Sugar High Friday blogging event is the creation of Jennifer at The Domestic Goddess in Canada.
The theme of "citrus," hosted by the reigning queen of dessert porn- Tartelette, is a delicious jumping off point for the record-breaking heat wave we had this past week. I went in search of something Mediterranean to help us stave off the effects of the heat! Ah, the glamour and mystery of the blood orange. Blood oranges are native to Sicily though other strains of the fruit are native to Spain. I went with the Italian origin and decided to have playtime again with my title and use of Italian. Perdinilo for any horrid errors!
I threw open the pages of the 2001 edition of Mediterranean, a taste of the sun in over 150 recipes and set my sights on Iced Oranges garnished with Bay Leaves. I used blood oranges instead of regular ones, at David's encouragement. I highly recommend this substitution.
They are so amazing because from orange to orange, some have just a hint of pink and others like this one are mid-toned, while others (all from the same bin at the market) are almost black with the blood color. Also, be warned to wear aprons you don't mind staining for this endeavor. As I scooped out this flesh, I found the blood juice got all over the kitchen and me!
Since it's an old edition, I'm republishing the recipe here. If you'd like to find a later edition, the authors are Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
juice of 1 lemon
14 medium oranges
8 fresh bay leaves
Makes 8 servings.
Put the sugar in a heavy-based pan with half the lemon juice and 1/2 cup water. Cook over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil 2-3 minutes until sugar is clear. Cool and set aside.
Slice the top off 8 of the oranges to make hats. Scoop out the flesh of the oranges and reserve. Put the empty orange shells and hats on a try in the freezer until needed.
Grate the rind of the remaining oranges and add to to the syrup. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and from the reserved flesh. I didn't, I took the pith and everything! There should be 3 cups of juice (you'll have more than that if you forget to strain off the juice like I did). Squeeze another orange or add store-bought juice if necessary.
Stir the orange juice with the remaining lemon juice and add 6 tablespoons of water into the syrup. Taste. Add more lemon juice or sugar as desired.
Pour the mixture into a shallow freezer container and freeze 3 hours. Turn the mixture into a bowl and whisk to break down the ice crystals. Freeze for an additional 4 hours until firm but not solid.
Pack mixture into the orange shells. Freeze until ready to serve. Just before serving, poke hole in top of hat with skewer to insert a bay leaf (a nice aesthetic but I'm going to go with chocolate over bay leaves...maybe I should have tried a chocolate-covered bay leaf instead!).
Often blood oranges are exotic enough on their own that you don't have to do more to garnish them...so with the rhythm of a girls night in going on in the background, I didn't do much and these were still a hit. Also paired with homemade chocolate pudding one of the ladies brought made the dessert combo super!
For another suggestion on a girl's night in, we indulged in Cowgirls, a board game I happened upon for Christmas. I'd give the game an A+ for thought provoking subjects, but some of the questions are quite lame and after awhile, we began to make up our own questions!
Chocolate pudding creating Goddess shown here with a caricature art piece I got many years ago from another female friend in the background. It's called Girls Night Out but shows a bunch of half-clothed voluptuous women with their red wine merrily dancing and peeking out from the branches of trees.
The theme of "citrus," hosted by the reigning queen of dessert porn- Tartelette, is a delicious jumping off point for the record-breaking heat wave we had this past week. I went in search of something Mediterranean to help us stave off the effects of the heat! Ah, the glamour and mystery of the blood orange. Blood oranges are native to Sicily though other strains of the fruit are native to Spain. I went with the Italian origin and decided to have playtime again with my title and use of Italian. Perdinilo for any horrid errors!
I threw open the pages of the 2001 edition of Mediterranean, a taste of the sun in over 150 recipes and set my sights on Iced Oranges garnished with Bay Leaves. I used blood oranges instead of regular ones, at David's encouragement. I highly recommend this substitution.
They are so amazing because from orange to orange, some have just a hint of pink and others like this one are mid-toned, while others (all from the same bin at the market) are almost black with the blood color. Also, be warned to wear aprons you don't mind staining for this endeavor. As I scooped out this flesh, I found the blood juice got all over the kitchen and me!
Since it's an old edition, I'm republishing the recipe here. If you'd like to find a later edition, the authors are Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
juice of 1 lemon
14 medium oranges
8 fresh bay leaves
Makes 8 servings.
Put the sugar in a heavy-based pan with half the lemon juice and 1/2 cup water. Cook over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil 2-3 minutes until sugar is clear. Cool and set aside.
Slice the top off 8 of the oranges to make hats. Scoop out the flesh of the oranges and reserve. Put the empty orange shells and hats on a try in the freezer until needed.
Grate the rind of the remaining oranges and add to to the syrup. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and from the reserved flesh. I didn't, I took the pith and everything! There should be 3 cups of juice (you'll have more than that if you forget to strain off the juice like I did). Squeeze another orange or add store-bought juice if necessary.
Stir the orange juice with the remaining lemon juice and add 6 tablespoons of water into the syrup. Taste. Add more lemon juice or sugar as desired.
Pour the mixture into a shallow freezer container and freeze 3 hours. Turn the mixture into a bowl and whisk to break down the ice crystals. Freeze for an additional 4 hours until firm but not solid.
Pack mixture into the orange shells. Freeze until ready to serve. Just before serving, poke hole in top of hat with skewer to insert a bay leaf (a nice aesthetic but I'm going to go with chocolate over bay leaves...maybe I should have tried a chocolate-covered bay leaf instead!).
Often blood oranges are exotic enough on their own that you don't have to do more to garnish them...so with the rhythm of a girls night in going on in the background, I didn't do much and these were still a hit. Also paired with homemade chocolate pudding one of the ladies brought made the dessert combo super!
For another suggestion on a girl's night in, we indulged in Cowgirls, a board game I happened upon for Christmas. I'd give the game an A+ for thought provoking subjects, but some of the questions are quite lame and after awhile, we began to make up our own questions!
Chocolate pudding creating Goddess shown here with a caricature art piece I got many years ago from another female friend in the background. It's called Girls Night Out but shows a bunch of half-clothed voluptuous women with their red wine merrily dancing and peeking out from the branches of trees.
Thank you for your entry Rachel! This is a great dessert to cool off with! Seems like you guys had a great night!
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