Chilled Caramelized Oranges with Yogurt
There is a hint of the days-gone-by sweet trolley about this: it’s not as tricksy to make as the arance alia principessa I remember from my childhood, the dessert I always chose on treaty weekend jaunts with my grandparents to the now defunct San Marino on London’s Connaught Street, but rather a rougher-hewn, contemporarily pared down and more huskily aromatic version of the same.
I love these oranges really cold, crispy with caramel and richly dolloped with yogurt, which means you need to make them enough in advance so that they’ve got time to chill in the refrigerator. But don’t make them too far in advance: after a day, the sugary carapace will disappear, melting into the fruit’s juices.
Yield: Serves 6–8
Ingredients
- 6 navel oranges or any small thin-skinned variety
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- 8 cardamom pods, crushed
- whole-milk yogurt (approx, 2¼ cups)
Directions
Using a small sharp knife, cut a thin slice off the top and bottom of the oranges, and then slice off the skin vertically, turning the orange as you go, being careful to keep as much flesh as possible but removing all pith.
Slice each orange into thin rounds, trying to reserve as much juice as you can. Just plonk the slices, pouring the juices, into a bowl as you cut them. Or just cut them straight into something like a lasagne dish.
To make the caramel, put the sugar, water and cardamom pods into a large saucepan and swirl (not stir) a little to dissolve the sugar. Then slowly bring to the boil without stirring, until the syrup becomes a dark amber color.
Take the saucepan off the heat and tip in the oranges and any juice that’s collected in the bowl. Quickly coat the orange slices in the caramel and pour onto a flat plate; act with speed, otherwise the caramel will set before you can get it out of the saucepan. If you can pick out the cardamom pods without burning your fingers, great, but there’s no need to get too exercised about it: let those eating do a little work as well.
Let the oranges cool, and then put them in the refrigerator to chill for a little while. Put the yogurt in a bowl on the table for people to eat it with.
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