It arrives every winter — as if to bring sunshine and sparkle to our dark, dreary world.
Sometimes sweet, sometimes tart, sometimes both, it comes in namesake shades of lemon, orange, lime and tangerine, with an outer skin like buttery leather, an interior bursting with juicy granules.
It is citrus we speak of, and it is everywhere you look right now — from grandma’s kitchen to the city’s best dining rooms.
At spiffy cocktail joints, casual taquerias and restaurants from Buckhead to the burbs, chefs, bakers and mixologists are juicing and zesting sweet Cara Cara oranges, fragrant Meyer lemons, ginormous white and pink grapefruits and numerous other citrus varieties — and turning them into delectable things to eat and drink.
At Colletta in Alpharetta, executive chef Michael Perez uses citrus to build layers of flavor into his Northern Italian-inspired cuisine.
Perez dollops house-made ricotta spiked with orange zest into his pork sugo with pappardelle, thus adding a touch of tangy brightness to a hearty winter dish. He pairs smoked scallops, cippolino onions and hen-of-the-wood mushrooms with orange butter and orange-zest puree. And he makes a simple salad of crab and frisee and squirts it all around with a gelatinous concoction of vivid orange and lemon.
At Table & Main in Roswell, chef de cuisine Woolery "Woody" Back preserves citrus in kosher salt and adds it to vinaigrettes, hollandaise sauce and baked fish. "I keep this around for any quick seafood sauce or recipe," Back says. Canoe executive chef Matthew Basford puts winter citrus in jams and mostardas. Taqueria del Sol chef Eddie Hernandez makes a simple salad of Romaine, scatters it with orange sections and almonds, and dresses it with a perky-sweet lime-and-serrano dressing. And Brezza Cucina chef-partner Adam Evans pairs pan-fried scallops with orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime and scads of fresh herbs — for a salad that's as simple to put together as it is spectacular to look at.
Of course, citrus has been used to balance mixed drinks practically since cocktails were invented. While you can’t go wrong with a classic Brown Derby (bourbon, grapefruit, honey); margarita (tequila, lime, orange liqueur); or mimosa (bubbles and OJ), many of the city’s best cocktail artists are squeezing citrus into clever and exciting new drinks.
At One Eared Stag in Inman Park, beverage director Mikey Kilbourne's Truth or Dare is made with gin, Fino sherry, lime and grapefruit. The Stag's Aeronautical (a play on the classic Aviation) is done with Scotch, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, lime juice and a mezcal rinse. And Kilbourne's Mexican Standoff, Version 2.0 — a beer-tail of silver tequila, Pimm's No. 1, Cocchi Americano and a serious glug or three of Decatur-based Wild Heaven Craft Beers' Emergency Drinking Beer — is a delightful sipper that gets its citrus notes from an easy-to-make grapefruit and lime cordial.
When if comes to desserts, citrus — lemon, in particular — has always been a reliable way to manage the sweetness of sugar. (Think: lemon-curd tarts, lemon-meringue pies and pound cakes drizzled with lemon icing.) Ambrosia, often little more than oranges and coconut, straddles the line between fruit salad and dessert.
With Southern ambrosia in mind, Miller Union executive chef Steven Satterfield uses blood oranges, toasted coconut and sliced almonds to give a heavenly touch to old-fashioned rice pudding. Satterfield's Blood Orange Ambrosia Rice Pudding is the epitome of comforting elegance and can be made with any kind of oranges — from satsumas to Valencias.
At Foundation Social Eatery in Roswell, pastry chef Kaley Hill encircles her rosemary-and-vanilla-bean panna cotta with segments of juniper berry-marinated grapefruit and poppy-seed meringue crumbles. And at KR SteakBar in Buckhead, pastry chef Kylie Akiyama has "at least two or three citrus components" on her menu at all times.
Why? Well, Akiyama thinks that sweets scented with lemon, blood orange and grapefruit are the perfect ending to the restaurant’s steak-and-Italian concept.
She adores chocolate and blood orange (or any oranges, really), and her olive oil cake with citrus cream works wonderfully with lemon, Meyer lemon, even grapefruit.
While this super-talented young pastry artist serves her individual-size olive oil cakes with toasted almond ice cream and almond brittle, we found it worked wonderfully as a simple two-layer cake drizzled with the curd-like frosting. Olive oil makes the crumb shiny and golden and adds citrus notes, too. Serve this lovely confection at your next party and your guests will be wildly impressed — not just by your baking skills but at the remarkable versatility of citrus, too.
Here are recipes for a cocktail, a salad and a dessert — all starring citrus.
Mexican Standoff, Version 2.0
Mikey Kilbourne, the beverage director at One Eared Stag in Inman Park, concocts this tequila-based beer-tail with an easy-to-make grapefruit-and-lime cordial and tops it with Emergency Drinking Beer, which is brewed locally by Wild Heaven Craft Beer in Decatur. “Emergency Drinking Beer is ideal for this drink, not only for the citrus notes it already possesses, but also for the low alcohol and easy drinkability,” Kilbourne says. “It also has notes of ginger, which play well with the botanical nature of the Pimm’s No. 1 and the Cocchi Americano.”
1 ounce silver tequila (Kilbourne uses Cimmaron Blanco)
1 ounce grapefruit-and-lime cordial (see recipe)
½ ounce of Pimm’s No. 1
½ ounce Cocchi Americano
3 ounces Wild Heaven Craft Beer’s Emergency Drinking Beer (or other pilsner-style or light beer of choice)
Citrus slices for garnish (optional)
Pour tequila, grapefruit-and-lime cordial, Pimm’s and Cocchi Americano in a glass. Stir well, fill glass with ice, and top with beer. Garnish with citrus if desired. Makes: 1 drink
Per drink: 175 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 14 milligrams sodium.
Grapefruit-and-Lime Cordial
This cordial can be made with any kind of grapefruit and makes enough for eight to nine Mexican Standoff cocktails. Leftovers should be covered and stored in the fridge, where they will keep for a couple of weeks. Shake well before using.
1/2 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 cup lime juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Place grapefruit juice, lime juice and granulated sugar in a small boiler, and heat over medium until the mixture begins to simmer. Stir well to dissolve sugar, 2-3 minutes. Remove, allow to cool, and refrigerate in a store in a clean container. Makes: About 9 ounces
Per 1/2-ounce serving: 21 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, trace sodium.
Salad of Scallops, Winter Citrus and Herbs
Adam Evans, chef-partner at Jonathan Waxman’s new Brezza Cucina at Ponce City Market, makes this easy-to-put-together salad with grapefruit, orange, lime and Meyer lemon. Use blood oranges if you can find them; we liked it with sweet, red-fleshed Cara Caras.
2 navel oranges
2 blood oranges (may use Cara Caras or other oranges)
2 Meyer lemons
1 grapefruit
1 lime
Sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) olive oil, divided
16 large scallops
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup basil, loosely packed and roughly torn by hand
1/2 cup cilantro, loosely packed and roughly torn by hand
1/2 cup mint, loosely packed and roughly torn by hand
To prepare the fruit: Supreme each piece of citrus like so: First cut off each end so that each piece of fruit sits flush on the cutting board. With a sharp small knife, cut the pith and peel away from the flesh in large strips. Instead of cutting straight down, adjust the cut to follow the contour of the fruit so that the flesh is exposed with no pith remaining. Hold the cleaned citrus over a medium bowl and make a cut in between each membrane to release each segment, removing seeds as you go. Squeeze any remaining juice left on top of segments, repeat until all fruit is cleaned. Season the segments with sea salt, black pepper and two tablespoons of the olive oil.
To cook the scallops: Clean the scallops under cold running water. Dry with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper. In a large, heavy cast iron pan over high heat, place the remaining remaining two tablespoons of olive oil, and heat until it starts to smoke. Place scallops face down in the pan. When scallops are a golden brown along each edge (about 5 minutes), add butter and flip over. Finish cooking by allowing scallops to sit in foaming butter, about 2-3 minutes. (Note: If the scallops aren't brown to your liking, you may finish under the broiler; just be careful not to overcook.)
To finish: Transfer scallops to a large platter. Dress with the citrus segments and liquid. Scatter the basil, cilantro and mint around the platter. Add more sea salt and black pepper to taste. Serves: 4
Per serving: 328 calories (percent of calories from fat, 52), 15 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber, 20 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 41 milligrams cholesterol, 228 milligrams sodium.
Olive Oil Cake with Citrus Cream
Kylie Akiyama, the pastry chef at Kevin Rathbun’s KR SteakBar in Buckhead, makes this ultra-moist, tartly frosted cake with lemon and sometimes grapefruit. We tried it with Meyer lemon and loved it. Akiyama says it’s important to use a very high-quality extra-virgin olive oil; she likes Antica Italia. The citrus cream is essentially a super buttery curd, finished in the food processor.
For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
Zest of one lemon
For the citrus cream:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
To make the cake: Generously grease two nine-inch layer pans, and dust with flour. (You may use baking spray with flour). Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking power and salt.
Place sugar and eggs in the bowl of stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add milk, olive oil and lemon zest, and mix well, about 3 minutes.
Now add the dry mixture slowly, about 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until just smooth, making sure to scrape the side of the bowl half way through and just before you finish mixing, about 5 minutes.
Pour into pans, and bake at 350 degrees until just set and golden on top, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
To make the citrus cream: In a double boiler over medium heat, place lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt. Cook until the mixture has thickened (should be about 170 to 180 degrees), stirring constantly, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Place the cream in a food processor, and with the machine running, add butter one cube at a time. When the cream is smooth, add vanilla. Pulse a few times to incorporate. Refrigerate the cream until ready to frost the cake.
To assemble the cake: Place one layer on a plate or cake stand, flat side down. Cover the top completely with the cream. Place the second layer, flat side up, onto the first. Spread cream all over the top, allowing it to drip down. If you like, you may frost the cake all over, though I like the drippy look. Serves: 16
Per serving: 559 calories (percent of calories from fat, 56), 5 grams protein, 58 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 35 grams fat (11 grams saturated), 140 milligrams cholesterol, 162 milligrams sodium.
