Not Quite Spring = Still Citrus Season!

How the bright fruits from southern states can get us through the last days of winter. Plus, a Flourless Orange Cake recipe!

Issue 02 - From Sara Kate’s Kitchen

I was lucky to grow up in California. We kept our Christmas ornaments in Sunkist orange boxes, which I loved because they came pre-emblazoned with my initials, SK. Despite having a neighbor with a gorgeously fragrant orange tree that drooped into the yard where I played as a kid in the winter months, it wasn’t until I moved to the east coast that I realized citrus is a winter thing. LA winters aren’t that cold, and I grew up a happy child distracted during the other seasons with the bounty of warm-climate fruits around me. 

While “winter comfort foods” usually fall in the stew and gooey pasta categories, I nominate citrus shipped up north, for the way it can rescue a bluesy New York winter, especially in these last dreary days. Normally adherent to rules about buying only seasonal/local produce, I break the rules for citrus. Saying orange variety names out loud is a therapy of its own: Sumo, Cara Cara, Jaffa, Blood.

In my early years of living in NYC, working on a tight non-profit salary, I would occasionally allow myself the luxury of buying one of those net bags of clementines from the corner deli. One out of five times, the batch was dry or bland, but that 80% return rate was worth it to me. The color brightened my table, the scent woke up my brain each morning, and the taste offered a brightness not found in the weather, or most of the foods I found myself eating in those months.

A few things I love to do with citrus:

• Supreme! In French cooking talk, to “supreme” means to segment out citrus in those perfectly smooth juicy pieces you often find in salads. Why not let Le Cordon Bleu cooking school teach you how? Here’s a video.