Cooking with WOW: Orange you glad...

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, knock.
Who’s there.
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, knock.
WHO’S THERE?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again?

Whoever thought of that knock knock joke should be fired from the joke squad. I mean, what kind of punch line is that? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again? Lame.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t love oranges growing up. I never enjoyed orange juice. I rarely had orange segments at half time during my soccer games (I liked to wait for the doughnuts or cookies after the game was over!). The orange Starbursts? Everyone knows that’s the worst color in the pack! I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t a fan. Grapefruits, I liked. But oranges? Nope.

Even though I would have an orange occasionally in my adult years, it wasn’t really until I lived in California that I started to rethink my relationship with this zingy citrus. I took a trip to a nearby Orange Grove in the heart of the San Joaquin valley. If you’ve never been to the San Joaquin valley, let me sum it up for you: ranch, ranch, and ranch. You’re more likely to see a tractor on the roads than a car. The ranch I happen to be going to was actually in a town called Orange Cove. How cute is that? Oranges from Orange Cove...how could I not love them? As we toured through row after row of Valencias and Navels, people kept picking fruit off the trees and eating it right then and there, juice dripping down their chin only to be wiped off by the sleeve of their shirt. Big smiles and lots of mmm mmm mm-ing ensued. I couldn’t resist that temptation, so I plucked the next one I could reach and mmm mmm mm-ed myself. It was the most deliciously sweet, juicy orange I had ever put in my mouth! Orange you glad I didn’t say banana in that sentence? Haha...now THAT’S a funny banana orange joke!

Anyways, my point is, I was completely converted from then on. All winter long, now my fruit bowl is overflowing with citrus. I love how cute the cuties are. How dramatic the blood varieties are. How puckery those kumquats can be. Clementines? Might name my first child after one. You get the point.

When I go to the farmer’s market and buy my orange bundles in bulk, sometimes I’m left with some extras that didn’t find their way into beet salads or zesty sorbets. So what do I do with the leftovers? Well, normally I would make some form of potpourri with cloves or lavender. Or maybe create some sultry marmalade concoction. This year, however, I decided to whip up something new. I wanted to do a spin on preserved lemons which are used frequently in Moroccan cooking. The rinds get tangy and sweet after a few weeks of sitting in a salt preserve, so you see them most often thrown into stews and braised dishes. For this version, I simply slow baked my orange segments with some spicy Aleppo pepper, savory thyme and sage honey. What I ended up with are the most colorful orange chips I’ve ever seen. I will definitely be chopping them up and tossing them into stews, as well as partially dipping them into bitter chocolate for a yummy dessert snack. If you use different varieties (like I did), you get a pretty assortment of colors!

Enjoy these tasty treats! xo, Chef WOW
PS-for a fruity knock knock joke that I love, scroll to the bottom

Spicy Orange Chips
4-5 oranges, peel on, washed and cut into round segments
Handful of fresh thyme (rosemary or sage would work too)
Aleppo pepper to taste
Sea salt
Olive oil