By: Sarah Ashley
My dear family and friends, winter is upon us. I take this as wonderful news! The holiday lights lift my spirits and the biting cold turns my cheeks a rosy red. While many folks turn to spicy, warm and hearty dishes for comfort this time of year, I prefer a treat a bit more… tropical.
Oranges, my darlings!
An orange orange.
From crisp November through sub-zero January, navel oranges are in season! While tangerines and clementines certainly make juicy appearances on soccer fields in June, it is the orange that saves you in the dead of night during a snowstorm. It whisks you away to a salty beach… the sea breeze flirts with your hair… the Vitamin C cures your scurvy…
There are several strategic ways to best enjoy an orange. For optimal fun, I always go with slices.
Ingredients:
1 orange
Begin by removing any stickers found on the orange. This is important even though you will not be eating the orange rind. It’s just a good habit to get into.
Be sure to use a cutting board for your orange slicing to prevent counter damage. Cut the orange in half with a large butcher knife, taking care to cut from navel to navel. If you do not cut navel to navel, you will end up with orange slices that look different than mine. It should not affect the taste, however, I wouldn’t risk it.
Watch out for your fingers!
Next, slice one half of the orange into half again. Slice each of those halves into half.
Repeat on the other half. If at any point during the cutting you feel seasonal affective disorder creeping into your psyche, shoo it away by inhaling deeply. The orange zest in the air will energize you to keep cutting! You should now have 8 orange slices.
Row 1: orange, orange, orange, orange. Row 2: orange, orange, orange, orange.
You’ll find that some slices will be larger than others – this is because human error prevents us from cutting the halves into half perfectly. This is normal and does not affect the taste of your fruitily delicious winter treat!
Oranges.
Serve on platters at your winter solstice party or as a side dish to your favorite holiday meal. Replace your napkin with a beach towel… take a sip of salt water… bask in the freshness of the citrus season…
Orange you glad I said ORANGE?
