Citrus fruit recipe thread

I like grapefruit and avacado (4.00 / 5)

Don't laugh, it's good!

Peal 1 pink grapefruit per medium ripe avacado. Seperate the segments and peel the skin off of them. Do this over a bowl so you catch the juices that will invariably drip, and put them in the bowl as you peel them.

Quarter and cube the avacado. Add to the grapefruit in the bowl. Toss and serve.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 00:37:48 AM UTC

I miss grapefruit. (4.00 / 4)

I love grapefruit, just love it. Sadly, grapefruit and its juice, react in a not very good way with various medications, particularly those for blood pressure and cholesterol. I haven't eaten a grapefruit since the 1990s.

Fortunately, the same does not apply to other citrus fruit. So, I am free to eat all the oranges, lemons and lime my heart desires.

When I am sick the only things I want to eat are fresh peeled oranges and challah. Oranges I can get anytime illness strikes, by challah is usually only available on Fridays. I should probably freeze a loaf for emergencies.

---

by: caseyOR @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:22:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Grapefruit prevents the liver from metabolizing the drugs (0.00 / 0)

and removing the drugs from the bloodstream. Therefore, the drugs are more likely to build up in the blood and may interfere with proper dosages.

I wonder if there is a way to use grapefruit to stretch the effect of expensive medicines for people who cannot afford much medication.

---

by: cybercitizen @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 19:46:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

i just peel and eat oranges and blood oranges (4.00 / 4)

no recipe needed. However, last night my wonderful bf made a deeelicious dressing for our salads with blood orange juice.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

---

by: Jill Richardson @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:26:12 AM UTC

citrus (4.00 / 3)

Except for lemon bars and fruit salad, I can't actually think of anything, which must mean that citrus is a neglected cooking element in my kitchen. Why not use it more, though? Peel orange or grapefruit segments as Joanne instructs and add to my hummus. I bet it would be good. Puree gazpacho and add whole peeled orange segments. Add them to gingered sweet potato soup! I can see them in a salad with soba noodles.

Recently I saw a yellow layer cake garnished with canned mandarin orange sections.

I once made a green salad with orange slices and smashed hazelnuts. That was good. Removed the peel and pith with a sharp knife and sliced the oranges into "wagon wheels" that I arranged on top. There might have been something else, but I don't remember.

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:31:06 AM UTC

Don't forget the zest! (4.00 / 4)

Damn, I peeled two oranges this afternoon without zesting them. The zest will last in the freezer for a long time.

My dad will buy a big bag of lemons because he needs the zest. He also juices the lemons but a whole bag will go south on him without the zest on, before he can use the juice, so I gets 'em.

I'll have to try that lemon sesame dressing when I get another shippment of lemons from dad.

I like lime juice in water, add a bit of mint syrup (make a simple syrup - 2C water:2C sugar, bring it to a boil and add a double handful of bruised mint leaves, bring back to a boil, turn off heat and let steep an hour). Serve over ice. Now there's a summer drink that'll cool ya off!

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:52:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Absolutely, but (4.00 / 3)

no way would I zest a bag. I zest a fruit when I use it, and store unused zest in the freezer like you.

When I'm in a hurry or lazy and don't zest, I feel bad about wasting all that flavor.

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:00:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Heh, you don't know my dad ;-) (4.00 / 4)

When he's making Panatone in the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons he'll zest a whole bag of lemons and use the zest before it goes bad in the fridge. He bakes a bunch of panatones.

You know, it's funny, but the whole time I was growing up all I ever saw my dad cook was oat meal, poached eggs and toast - pretty much his standard meal during the week. Every day, get up, make the same thing, eat the same thing. My mom was the fancy cook. You could travel the world eating her meals. Untill my dad retired from tile setting and took up cooking. I don't know if it was a latent talent he had, just sitting there, waiting for the right time to come out and make itself known, or if he took cooking lessons from mom, but that man has turned into a gourmet cook. He spends his summers, falls and winters canning, freezing things for winter, baking, cooking. He cooks and takes things up to his church, for potlucks. Outstanding!

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:39:32 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Baking in glass (4.00 / 2)

What's the rationale for using a lower temperature for baking in glass?

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:34:41 AM UTC

I believe... (4.00 / 2)

...it has to do with the thickness of the glass?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:23:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah ha! (4.00 / 2)

Yeah, here's an answer -

Glass absorbs heat well. This means that, when you put a glass bake dish in the oven, it will take more time for the glass to reach oven temperature. Likewise, when you take the glass bake dish out of the oven, it will retain its temperature and cool down very slowly. Even after you take it out, the glass will continue to "bake" the dish for a while as it cools.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:26:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

About glass loosing it's hear slowly (4.00 / 3)

and why that's necessary, I found out long ago. I took a corning ware glass casserole dish out of the oven one day. I put the lid in the sink (fortunately), and ran hot water on it to cool it off faster. BOOM!!!, thing exploded. If I had been doing that at waist level instead of in the bottom of the sink, it probably would have gutted me.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:32:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

glass (4.00 / 3)

wow, that is scary re: exploding
i've had that happen as well. my mom set a glass container on top of one of the burners to cool, however, some heat was still escaping from the oven so it caused the container to explode. I've baked in my pyrex containers but i just follow the instructions of the recipe and i've never payed special attention to the temperature setting otherwise. but i make sure to allow the container to cool properly on the counter before storing it or washing it.

---

by: wedding @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 19:18:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Have read that they don't make Pyrex glass like they used to (0.00 / 0)

and that a cheaper formula is compromising the safety of Pyrex glass sold in America. But that in Europe the original borosilicate formula is still mandated and sold, so therefore buy your Pyrex baking dishes in Europe.  

---

by: cybercitizen @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 19:49:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

very funny. (4.00 / 2)

You would use a different temperature for glass and metal baking

but that answer doesn't say whether the glass temp would be higher or lower. A separate answer does instruct 25 degrees lower.

The most important variable is the size of the pan. Loaf pan v. shallow pan or dish makes a huge difference - thank you, desmoinesdem for specifying the pan!

I have tested rectangular glass v. round cast iron having the same square inches for several recipes. In every case, the cakes have come out exactly the same if cooked at the same temp for the same time, but I remove the cakes from the pan or dish as soon as it comes out of the oven. When most people talk of baking in metal, they probably mean a thin aluminum pan, don't know if that makes a difference.

The second part of the answer you cite argues for lower temp or shorter oven time, but it isn't relevant unless the cake would stay in the dish for quite a while. The first part of that answer argues for higher temp or longer oven time.

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 04:32:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Another answer (4.00 / 2)

link

Radiation: The heat is transfered to the pan from the pre-heated conventional oven.
When a metal pan is put in the oven the radiated heat warms the pan which in turn warms the food. If the pan is shiny it does not heat readily. When a glass dish is put in the oven the radiated heat passes through the glass directly to the food in the dish which cooks the food touching the dish more quickly. Usually when metal pans and glass dishes are compared it is suggested to use a lower temperature, usually 25 degrees, with glass so that the top will brown before the bottom burns. A dark coloured food (brownies) will heat more quickly as well in a glass dish. A black metal pan absorbs radiant heat better than a shiny metal pan and will fall somewhere in the middle.

This explains my same results with cast iron and glass, as well as the higher temp for shiny metal.

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 04:45:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

13x9 (4.00 / 2)

Continuing the thought, with a recommendation to go 25 degrees lower in glass probably assuming a shiny pan. I have a Pyrex dish and a very shiny thin stainless steel pan. Comparing those two, I would go with a lower temp for the glass (now that we have gone through this exercise). An shiny opaque Corningware dish might use the same time as the shiny pan.

---

by: count @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 04:54:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

no idea (4.00 / 3)

That's what the book said. I don't have a glass baking dish, though.

---

by: desmoinesdem @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:58:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]