An Orange by Any Other Name Is a Grapefruit

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

Probably like most Americans, my husband and I usually have very little time to grocery shop and to cook. When we do get a chance to make our weekly pilgrimage to Super Wal-Mart, we utilize the swoop-and-attack method: speed-walking up and down each aisle, quickly pitching items into the cart. When the items reach the top of the cart, it’s usually time to checkout.

Because of this efficient but systematized method, we almost always buy the same ingredients. And at home, we usually cook those same ingredients in the same way. Which works just fine at 9:00 at night, when you are otherwise ready to eat an entire tube of Pringles. But once in a while, we crave a little variety.

Frozen salmon fillets are one of the items that are pitched into the cart. They are pretty easy; a quick drizzle of olive oil, a dash of salt, a crank of fresh pepper, and 8 minutes in the oven. Served with a side of rice and a salad, they make a perfect meal. However, even a perfect meal gets boring after a while, if perfect is the same-old, same-old.

I love a fresh orange and pineapple juice cocktail. But after the weather in Memphis, TN (my current home town) turned from sticky hot to windy cool, I left two rather large metal cans of orange and pineapple juice sitting in the back of my fridge. Besides the occasional glass of pineapple juice as a post-dinner sweet tooth conqueror, the juice has just been there, chilling (no pun intended). So, when I was trying to think of a way to make salmon (again), I thought of the orange juice.

I usually prefer fruit to be separate from meat and veggies. I just get squeamish at lettuce salads with raisins or strawberries, or ham with pineapple. Call me obsessive compulsive, but I like categories.

But as part of my life’s goals, I have become determined to branch out in all aspects of my life. And in cooking, branching out (for me, at least) means possibly…gulp…mixing fruit in with my meat and veggies. Oranges seemed a safe bet. They are pretty similar to lemons, and I can handle lemon chicken. I figured I was good to go.

So, I went to the grocery store, found all my ingredients, including a rather large, yellow-colored orange. When I got home, my sister asked me why I was making grapefruit salmon. I looked at the fruit. “It’s not grapefruit,” I protested, and made the dish. It wasn’t until later, when I ate the other half of the “orange” that I realized it indeed was a grapefruit. I didn’t admit that to her, though, and no one was the wiser. However, orange is much better, so I recommend that you actually read the handy little signs that your grocer puts up in the produce department, and purchase an orange. Not a grapefruit.

Although, in retrospect, I realized that my mishap may have opened my fruit horizons just a bit wider. Maybe next week I’ll try out some beef with apple stuffing, or a spinach salad with steamed pears. Okay, maybe not next week, but maybe after the New Year’s. I might even make it one of my resolutions.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 sliced green onions
• 2 yellow squash or zucchini, sliced
• 4 small salmon fillets
• 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon crushed bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup orange juice