All home cooks can get stuck in a rotation of making the same old dishes. (Boring!) In this post, How To Use Citrus Fruit and Zest, I want you to see new ways to use it and try something. From meatballs to muffins, citrus adds a bright fresh taste wherever you use it.
Citrus fruit year is available year round but when it's in season the fruits are juicier and the variety is amazing. Juicy Cara Cara oranges, blood oranges, satsumas, clementines, ruby red grapefruits, Meyer lemons and Key limes and more, are waiting to be tried. Here's a recipe roundup with 15 of my favourites.
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🍊 How To Cut Citrus Supremes
I've been cutting oranges and grapefruits like this for years but never knew they were called supremes. It's simply a method of cutting to remove all the membrane and pith from the outside of the fruit. The last step is to remove each section from the membrane and you have citrus supremes.
In my kitchen we think it's worth the effort. Just give it a try!
🍋 Tips for Zesting Citrus Fruit
The zest is the coloured part of the peel only, none of the white pith. It has a high amount of fibre and vitamin C and adding a small amount can perk up meatballs, pasta dishes, muffins and more.
I use an old-fashioned hand zester with several holes at the top to make long strips of zest like you see in this video. I freeze the strips then use it right out of the freezer chopped as fine as I need for each recipe.
Of course I have a rast, the popular tool you see on cooking shows that people often call a Microplane grater. Microplane is actually the brand name. There are many other brands available as well as different sizes to choose from.
I use my rast when I'm finishing a dish with a little zest on top. Hold the rast firmly in one hand, then rub the fruit back and forth across the holes and let the zest fall right on top of your dish.
A rast can also be used to grate Parmesan cheese, chocolate, garlic, ginger and more.
Add citrus zest to muffins, pancakes, cookies and scones. Try lemon or lime zest in marinades, on roast potatoes, fish dishes or chicken is heavenly. Try it in anything, you can’t go wrong.
🥶 Freezing Citrus Zest
Zest citrus fruit as often as you can. I try to remove the zest of oranges, lemons and limes before I use them for anything. I put that zest right into the freezer and always have some on hand when I need it. It will keep for months but try and use it.
I have a small container in my freezer for each type of zest and they stay there whether they're full or empty.
🍊🍋 15 Citrus Recipes; Lemon, Lime, Orange & Grapefruit
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Let me know in the comments below if you found something new you want to try.
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