Let the Sun Shine With Citrus
The dead of winter is typically not the time I think of a bountiful harvest. And yet in the midst of the blustery weather that is exactly what I have found: heavy tree limbs dripping with golden orbs of sunshine. Citrus fruit. Bundled up in my wool winter coat, I’ve found myself harvesting, in the dead of winter, baskets of Meyer lemons, tangelos, and all variety of citrus. While most of the country remains in a deep freeze, and even California is being hit with a winter storm, there is something completely thrilling and positively sunny about looking at a whole bowl filled with fruit in shades of egg yolk orange and daffodil yellow, a happy reminder that spring is around the corner.
Standard lemons are available year round, but now is the time when Meyer lemons come out to shine. A basket of fruit plucked from my grandfather’s tree inspired a whole week of cooking. Using so many Meyer lemons was easier than I thought it would be. Thin skinned with a sweeter, milder taste and traditional lemons, the Meyers were made to season, scent, dress, and glaze everything from pound cakes to arugula salads.
For a lemon themed meal, we started with a Dungeness crab cocktail served with wedges of Meyer lemon. This was followed with chicken legs roasted over Meyer lemon, fennel, leeks, and olives and served with a butter lettuce salad tossed with olive oil and lemon dressing with fennel fronds. For dessert I cooked a pound cake and coated it with a mixture of sugar dissolved in Meyer lemon juice, spread on the cake while it was still warm. Come time to eat, I sliced the cake and served it with vanilla bean ice cream and a dollop of citrus marmalade.
The lemon fest continued that week and somehow I never got bored. One night it was risotto with black pepper smoked salmon, Meyer lemon zest, and a sprinkling of parsley. I should have just made the salad dressing in bulk, because a simple vinaigrette of Meyer lemon juice and crushed garlic with good extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper was almost never absent from the meal as long as a salad was being served. My father commented one night that although he typically finds the bite of arugula a bit too harsh, the gentle acidity of the lemon vinaigrette was the perfect complement for the peppery leaf, as shown by the speed in which his salad disappeared.
A run through the citrus groves near my parents’ house in Riverside County, California, sent my wheels spinning around more citrus themed dishes. A segmented tangelo or mandarin orange is a lovely contrast in flavor and color for early asparagus served as a side dish. The zest of an orange gives a terrific zing to scones. Grapefruit, once relegated to a breakfast food, would be a surprising alternative to the typical lemon slice when segmented and baked under a seasonal fish such as arctic char. Blood oranges have intensity unmatched among their citrus cousins and truly shine in simple ways such as using the juice as substitute for standard orange juice in Mimosas or Screwdrivers.
In the continuing quest to eat as seasonal and local as possible, it is comforting to know that even in the dead of winter, somewhere in our very own country fruit is growing in abundance. Even as I hunker down around the space heater staring out the blurry window at the latest rain storm, all I have to do is take a short walk to the kitchen and look at my latest big bowl of oranges, lemons and grapefruit to be reminded that somewhere out there the sun is shining. It may be awhile yet until the sun comes out again where I live, but in the meantime a little squeeze of lemon or zest of an orange and my mood will be as bright as the food I am cooking.
Made with herbs de Provence, char fillets, salt and pepper, fennel bulbs, leeks, olives, Meyer lemons, olive oil
Serves/Makes: 4
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 6 small leeks
- 1/2 cup large olives (such as Kalamata or Green Greek olives)
- 3 Meyer lemons
- 1/4 cup olive oil, PLUS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 4 Arctic char fillets, skin removed
- 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the fronds from the fennel bulbs then cut them lengthwise in half. Cut a triangle shape in each half to remove the core. Set each cored half cut side down on the cutting board and cut into slices 1/4-inch thick.
Remove all but a half inch of green from the tops of each leek and discard. Cut the white part of the leek in half lengthwise and rinse to remove all dirt. Remove one layer from the outside of each leek half as it can become tough during cooking.
Cut each lemon into quarters then cut each quarter wedge in half again to form eight, thin slices per lemon.
Use one baking pan if it is large enough to fit all fish fillets side by side without overlapping, or two if one is too small.
Toss fennel, leeks, olives, and lemon slices with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out on baking pan(s). Season fish with salt and pepper on each side then place top of fennel and lemon mixture. Sprinkle herbs de Provence over fish and drizzle remaining two tablespoons olive oil. Rub fillets lightly to evenly coat.
Place baking sheets in preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets until the fish is just cooked through.
Serve fish alongside leek, fennel, lemon, and olive mixture.
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