Citrus smells great and tastes refreshing, but this year’s crop is so abundant even one tree often produces too much fruit for a single family. To use that citrus, Valley chef and culinary teacher Barbara Pool Fenzl suggests her light, somewhat unusual and very Southwestern Jicama, Orange and Nopalitos Salad.
Citrus smells great and tastes refreshing, but this year’s crop is so abundant even one tree often produces too much fruit for a single family.
To use that citrus, Valley chef and culinary teacher Barbara Pool Fenzl suggests her light, somewhat unusual and very Southwestern Jicama, Orange and Nopalitos Salad. For a special treat, her Grapefruit Tart uses some of that spare juicy pink fruit in a creative alternative to eating them halved and topped with sugar for breakfast.
Jicama, orange and nopalitos salad
Nopales are the dark green, fleshy pads of the prickly pear cactus and taste like tart green beans. Nopalitos are the diced or sliced nopales that are sold either fresh in the produce department or pickled in jars in larger supermarkets and Latino groceries.
Yields: 8 servings
Dressing ingredients
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon crushed anise seed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Salad ingredients
1/2 jar (15 ounces) nopales, rinsed, drained and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups julienned jicama
1 jar (4 ounces) pimentos, drained
3 navel oranges, peeled and sectioned
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 bunches watercress, washed and stems removed
Procedure
For the dressing:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, orange juice, honey, anise seed and cayenne pepper.
2. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
For the salad
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the salad ingredients, except the watercress.
2. Add dressing and toss well.
Assembly
1. Divide the watercress among 8 salad plates.
2. Spoon salad on top of watercress and serve immediately.
Grapefruit Tart
Yields: 12
For dough
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
For filling
4 grapefruit
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
4 tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
Procedure
For the dough:
1. Put flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor; pulse until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water.
3. With the processor running, pour the liquids through the feed tube and pulse once or twice. Test the dough with your hand to see if it sticks together when pressed. If not, add more water.
4. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and press it together with your hands into a round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days.
5. With a rolling pin, roll dough out on a floured surface into a 13-inch round.
6. Line a 10-inch removable bottom tart pan with the dough, prick bottom of shell all over with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake in the middle of the oven 10 minutes; remove foil and weights and bake until shell is golden, about 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack.
For the filling:
1. Cut peel, including all white pith, from grapefruit with a sharp knife; cut segments free from membranes over a bowl, catching the juice. Pat segments dry with paper towels and measure 3 tablespoons of the juice.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, candied ginger, 2 tablespoons juice and 2 tablespoons of the confectioners sugar. If mixture is too thick, add the remaining one tablespoon juice.
3. Spread filling evenly in the tart shell and top decoratively with the grapefruit segments.
4. Dust with remaining confectioners sugar and serve immediately.
