Tell me if you think I am getting too piss elegant. Macerated Oranges with White Balsamic-Meringue & Caramel. I hope you think it’s fabulous. But you see fabulous should never be pretentious. It should walk right up to the line and spit on it. But it should never cross the line.
At least not on a blog– unless you have a piss elegant blog, in which case ignore everything I just said.
Seriously though, fancy is in the eyes of the beholder right? How many dishes have I presented here only to watch them sputter off and sink to the bottom of the blogoshere completely unloved? Well plenty let me tell you. Cakes with brandy, cookies with seeds, or vinegar for dessert. Stinkers all. Sound buzzer end of game.
Macerated Oranges
Now I think I am a pretty good cook with pretty good instincts. But once the meal ends I just can’t get it right. I intended these orange slices with meringue cookies (made sweetly complex with white balsamic vinegar) to be a birthday dessert for a woman in her forties. I thought I was showing my love by thinking outside the cake box and presenting something special and far from mundane. But you should have seen the crest fallen looks I got when I discussed my menu with some of the guests. When it comes to dessert it seems I miss the mark more than I hit it. As my mother would say I gotta learn to lift the lid and aim better. Talk about piss elegant!
Because whenever I think something is innovative or just plain sublime I soon learn that plenty of people think it’s pretentious or worse yet… boring. But do all desserts have to have a peanut butter swirl to get some attention? Must it be the chocolate way or the highway every time? Layer cakes are delightful, but most frosting is just plain inedible. I know, I know except yours.
It looks like grumpy Greg has jumped out of the Betty Crocker cake box once again. But I can’t help it. Why do most desserts seem more suited to a 10 year old’s birthday party than a dinner party for grownups? Is it because once we have children we stop cooking for adults? I mean how can otherwise sophisticated eaters think a Blizzard from the DQ is a special treat? At what age did our collective palates stop developing when it comes to sweet treats?
Or maybe I am overreacting. Maybe the wrinkled noses weren’t over my dessert but the fact that I called it macerated. They do know I didn’t mean masticated, right?
Macerated Oranges with White Balsamic-Meringue & Caramel
serves 6 CLICK here for a printable recipe
- 6 navel oranges
- 1 c granulated sugar, divided
- 4 t white balsamic vinegar
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/4 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 t kosher salt, divided
- 1 T light corn syrup
- 2 T water
- 2 T unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 c heavy cream
- 1 T crème fraîche
For the Macerated Oranges : Using a sharp paring knife, cut peel and pith from oranges, then cut each section of fruit away from membranes, cutting as close to membranes as you can. Squeeze juice from membranes into a medium bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vinegar; stir to dissolve sugar, then add orange segments and gently stir to combine. Let mixture stand at room temperature until orange segments are flavorful, about 1 hour. (Macerated oranges keep, covered and chilled, for up to 1 day.)
For the meringue: Heat oven to 300 degrees F with rack in middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; lightly coat with nonstick spray. Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches water; bring water to a simmer. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat together egg whites, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the confectioners sugar on medium speed until well-combined, about 2 minutes. Set bowl over (but not touching) the simmering water, and whisk mixture until hot to the touch and not at all grainy, about 3 minutes.
Return bowl to mixer fitted with whisk and beat on medium speed until eggs are cool, thick and creamy (resembling shaving cream), about 10 minutes. Add 3 teaspoons vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon salt; beat on low speed just to combine.
Evenly spread meringue, about 1/4 inch thick, onto prepared baking sheet. Bake, rotating halfway through, until meringue is lightly golden, with no visible white patches, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheet on wire rack. Break meringue into large shards. (Meringue can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. If it loses its crunch, dry in a 300 degree F oven, 5 to 10 minutes.)
For the caramel: In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, corn syrup and water. Gently whisk together mixture to ensure sugar is damp throughout, being careful not to get sugar on sides of pot. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture is golden at edges, 5 to 6 minutes, then gently whisk until a golden caramel forms, about 1 minute more.
Remove pot from heat and, one ingredient at a time, carefully whisk in butter, cream, crème fraîche and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Transfer caramel to a small metal bowl and chill over an ice bath, or refrigerate until cool. (Caramel keeps, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks.)
To serve: In a small saucepan, gently heat caramel just until warm; remove from heat. Divide orange segments among 6 bowls; spoon a little macerating liquid over the top. Garnish with meringue shards, drizzle with caramel and serve immediately.
SERIOUS FUN FOOD
Greg Henry
Sippity Sup
Macerated Oranges
I would rather drink one kick ass beer — give 200 calories worth. Than two watered down versions thank you very much!
Well said good sir!
say it loud and proud! I am an IPA, Porter and Stout guy (in that order), and there is NOTHING lite about any of those choices. I just discovered a most excellent beer (though you may not find it on the left coast) made by a VT brewer called Otter Creek. It is a Black IPA, sort of a Porter-IPA that makes me very happy indeed.
I 1000% agree. I feel like this is a particularly American trait — you don’t have to do anything in moderation! Just do more, only in a less satisfying way! You can have it al! (Except the flavor.) Can you imagine ordering a light beer in say, Prague?? Anyway. I am trying to imagine a light whiskey. *Shudder*
First of all, I have no idea where these pounds you intend to lose are going to come from. In fact, I think you could use some MORE meat on those bones. You can have some of mine. Free of charge.
I hate all of these weirdo diet plans. Just eat fruits and veggies and you’ll be good to go, in my experience and opinion. Have I been losing weight WHILE eating peppermint brownies AND drinking my stella artois and blue moon? Uh. Yes.
Also, Guiness isn’t even very many calories. So light Guiness is just a joke.
I’m so glad we agree.
I read the the first few lines and then in my head I was saying, “yeah right , you are totally thin”… then you said…
Cracking myself up here, I guess it’s because I can hear you saying it in my head. Light beer stinks… there is a place up here that has a truffled, salted beer! Man to die for… I guess OC isn’t all bad… NO — it is!
And non-food items should NOT be consumed! Loved your column! Thanks for the vote of sanity…
Life is too short to drink bad (light) beer. Enjoy!
I don’t do faux or fake or fat-free or light.… If I’m going to do it, I want the real thing! Why bother with fake food?
i have an aversion to all foods that say “fat free,” or “light,” unless they are inherently that way — like a carrot! 😉 love it, Greg!
could make me laugh and insult me all at the same time.
I use butter, sugar and real milk so would never consider less of anything including beer. Everything in moderation I say.
I never understood light beer. Does the extra 40ish calories make a difference when you’re enjoying your beer with a plate full of chicken wings??
…is to vow not to put anything in our mouths that is not the best we can find. Calories be damned, this life is too short to settle on inferior sips and bites, and we’d rather go without than partake in garbage. Great post!
Great post Greg. I totally agree. It’s a sad day when people believe light beer will make them skinny anyways. Put down the fork! It’s a lifestyle not a beer, fad or minor change. It’s a thing called lifestyle.
Give me real food and real beer!! I’d rather modify my portions than eat “chemically-altered processed” lite foods!
I actually do enjoy a few light beers but I also like “real beer” too. One of my long time favorites is Newcastle Brown. A new favorite is a beer named Sue. It’s by Yazoo Brewery and I had it at the Nashville Food Blog Forum conference. They smoke the malt with cherry wood and it has a mellow dark flavor.
http://yazoobrew.com/our-beers/sue.php
The Michelob Ultra ads where it’s Some Dude* and Some Girl at work, then working out (often together), and finally meeting up with their stupid friends at some crappy, clubby place give me a case of the stabbies because it’s meant to be so blatantly aspirational and yet it comes off as completely joyless. Do not want.
Your resolution is a fabulous one!
*Not to be mistaken for The Dude.
Funny that you just posted this‑I have started a diet. I have a lot of weight to lose and have decided not to compromise taste for reduced calories/fat. In other words no fake food for me. I plan on doing it all by portion control and *gasp* exercise. I believe that I will be satisfied with less of good food rather then more of bad ‘lite’ food. If this works out I may write the next big hit diet book.…errr, I mean life style change book.…
Good Luck. GREG
I fell off the light beer train a while ago and will never turn back. If I’m going to drink a beer, I want one that is full-flavored, one that is worth drinking for crying out loud. Friday night, we went out to this dive bar and ordered this “retro” beer called Genny Lite. For $1 we thought, why not? As soon as I took a sip, I knew why. It was totally gross, diluted yellow water. For the people that say they hate beer, it’s because they’re drinking this stuff. LOL.
I won’t buy non-fat or sugar free food. hahaha and Totally agree about beer. Notice all the people who drink lite and eat the diet food are fat. Look at you! Slim and Trim. (hey I lost 8 pounds eating my own food). HA.
That is the best New Years Resolution I have heard… Lite beer… bleh!
Amen to that! Since moving to MN I have learned a lot about beer and all the different flavor profiles. I can’t imagine ever going back to drinking yellow, bitter water.
It just doesn’t compute, in my mind.
Great column! Totally agree.
Eat/drink the real thing.