Orange Lanterns and Candied Orange-Chili Walnuts

In the beginning of October, I came across this photo circulating the Organic boards on Facebook and in Pintrest.

Here you can see the end product looks beautiful. I thought these would be perfect centerpieces for my November International Dinner on France.

But how do you get from step 1 to 3? What to do with all of the juice and pulp? I juiced my oranges using a glass juicer and then scraped the insides out smoothly, dumping the pith and pulp into a glass measuring cup.

I squeezed the extra juice from the mass using the back of a spoon. I used an aluminum pipe about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and used the sharp end to cut two holes, one in each half, so the it would sit flat on the plate and so the heat of the candle would not burn the fruit's skin.

With future lanterns I'll make the top hole larger as they started to scorch after an hour, as the skin dried out.

Here is the aftermath. A delectable three course supper completely decimated. Notice the missing caps, but people didn't mind and rather enjoyed the brighter light.


The juice ended up being used to make the slightly spicy candied orange-chili walnuts.



The recipe: 2 oranges worth of juice, 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tbls olive oil, 2 tsp red pepper flakes, 8 oz halved walnuts.

Set out a well oiled cookie sheet.

On high heat, cook the nuts in the mix until the liquid thickens and bubbles and darkens, using a lightly oiled silicon scraper to stir the nuts frequently. Scrape everything evenly onto the cookie sheet, keeping the nuts separated. Once cooled, use a metal spatula to remove the nuts and hard candied caramel. It will have the consistency of peanut brittle. You can store it in a zippered storage bag.

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream-No Eggs No Added Sugar

Slice two bananas and freeze.

Rough chop 1 cup of walnuts.

Add bananas, 1 pint of heavy cream and 4 tbls of organic chocolate syrup to mixer.

Add in 1 1/2 cups milk or light cream.

 Add in walnuts.

Add in large chunk chocolate.

 Mix until whipped smooth. Pack into two storage containers and freeze for one hour.

Scoop and serve!

Haddock with Pesto and Fruit Salad

I've been feeling rather under the weather lately. I still am not certain what that was but suspect the temperature and moisture constantly changing had something to do with it. Because of this I decided something simple yet nutrient dense was in order.

The organic fruits at the co-op looked luscious, so I picked up watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, golden apricots and a mango.

The wild caught haddock from Iceland was firm and without scent. In the produce section I found packs of the Lexington's Local Garlic Scape Pesto. A blend of locally sourced garlic scapes, walnuts, basil, parmigiana cheese, salt, pepper and olive oil. I foil packed each filet with two to three tablespoons of the pesto on top. Sealed the packs up tight and baked them at 400 degrees for about fifteen minutes.

This was so mouthwatering and filling and satisfying, I highly recommend  you give it a try.