Savoring Citrus Season

It might be Spring, but I've still got citrus on my mind.

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citrus mail!

Spring has officially arrived and we’re off to a sunny and chilly start in New York City. As is typical for our many seasons, we’re treated to a few gorgeous end-of-Winter days — it was 70 degrees on March 3rd! — before the early Spring chill sets back in. It’s not super cold, but we can’t toss aside our warm coats just yet.

I like to combat the cool weather doldrums with a heavy dose of citrus that is typically mailed to me by my parents. They grow oranges, lemons, and Meyer lemons, and are involved in a complex network* of citrus growers where they trade their crop for blood oranges and grapefruits.

As we start shift into warmer weather, the days of citrus season are numbered, so today, I am holding on to their season a little longer with a few recipes. There are a few I’ve loved, and one I am excited to try. Plus, I’ve also got my recipe for citrus-cello (a liqueur) if you happen to be rich in citrus, and for paid subscribers, a recipe for Roasted Salmon with Citrus and Olives.

I am ready to put away my warm coats for good, but until then, I’ll be happily enjoying the last bits of my citrus to brighten the days.

*This network is actually only like 3 of their friends.

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A couple of favorite citrus recipes

Slow-Roasted Citrus Salmon With Herb Salad from Alison Roman - She has a variation of this in her cookbook and it’s a very simple and delicious weeknight meal.

Sweet and Spicy Roast Chicken from Melissa Clark - This has a lot of familiar flavors, but the dates help make a bright, sticky sauce that’s great over couscous.

Plus one I am excited to try

Soy Citrus Tofu from

Justine Doiron

- For when I want orange chicken but want plant-based protein.

Citrus-Cello

Limoncello is a Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in southern Italy, and it’s great as an after dinner drink to wind down the night. My parents often have a homemade version in the freezer, so with the arrival of my citrus mail, I decided to make my own.

I made some modifications because I had so much citrus that weren’t lemons, so this got turned into a citrus-cello. I also realized I didn’t have enough white sugar in the middle of making simple syrup, so I had to use some light brown sugar, and it worked out great. The recipe also called for Everclear, and because of too much Jungle Juice consumed at college parties, I simply cannot. I used a nice vodka that I’d actually want to drink.

Ingredients

750 ml bottle vodka

8-10 medium citrus (grapefruit, blood oranges, oranges, lemons) - Peel the rinds and remove as much of the pith as possible. Juice the remaining fruit, you need about 3 cups.

1.5 cups sugar - I had to use half white sugar and half brown sugar and it was delicious. If you only have one, that’s fine, but feel free to mix.

Empty the bottle of vodka into a large container with a lid that has a tight seal. Add the fruit rinds, seal, cover with a towel and let sit for 2 weeks. Swirl the container every day to get the liquid moving.

Juice the fruits and save until the end of the 2 weeks. You’ll need 3 cups, so if you are short a bit, add in water. Thaw when ready.

Heat the juice with the sugar in a sauce pan over a medium heat. Stir to dissolve. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove simple syrup from the heat and let cool. While the simple syrup is cooling, strain the vodka, and discard the rinds.

When the simple syrup is cool, mix with the strained vodka. Store in the freezer and serve very chilled. It can get a little slushy, so let sit out for a few minutes before serving

Roasted Salmon with Citrus and Olives

If you flip through a cookbook or Google citrus recipes, a not insignificant portion of them involve some combo of salmon and citrus. And for good reason — that combo is perfection. This recipe is inspired by, well, all of them. Nearly everything on the plate is simply prepared, and the star of the show is a citrus-olive-shallot salad that’s tossed in a citrus dressing. This came together one night when I needed to use up some oranges and it’s fast and easy to prepare.

This recipe is posted below for my paid subscribers. Thank you! Your support helps me develop recipes, shoot videos, and interview interesting people in the food and drink world. This recipe is really good — come on over and join us!