From savory to sweet, sunrise to sundown, here are five ways to enjoy Southern California’s glut of citrus at local farmers markets:
Blood Orange Mimosas
At Cortez in Echo Park, owner Marta Teegan pours German Gilabert Cava Brut Nature Reserva topped off with Peter Schaner’s blood orange juice for the Blood Orange Mimosas on the weekend brunch menu.
Savory Grapefruit Salad
This is a two-fer: For a light lunch sprinkle grapefruit segments, thinly shaved red onion and smoked trout over a bed of arugula. Dress with quality olive oil and salt. Or, keep it simple and pair grapefruit segments with avocado slices and thinly sliced red onion. Again, dress with your best olive oil and flaky sea salt.
Lemon Tart
Even the most pastry-averse cook can handle Lazy Mary’s Lemon Tart. If you were to buy a store bought shell (how dare you!) this no-fail dessert has literally two steps. Russ Parsons first told us about this tart in early 2012 after he discovered it on Food52’s site. You simply combine all the filling ingredients in your food processor, let them whirl like crazy and pour it the mixture into a tart shell to bake for 40 minutes. Voila!
Candied Kumquats
You can still find “quats” at the market – loquats, limequats and kumquats – right now. Candied kumquats can be used in both savory and sweet applications. At Cooks County chef Dan Mattern steals some of pastry chef Roxana Jullapat’s candied kumquats to pair with his duck. At Huckleberry, owner and pastry chef Zoe Nathan bakes the thin candied slices atop pastry cream and sweet flakey croissant dough. To make your own candied kumquats bring a sauce pan with equal parts sugar and water to a boil. Then bring the liquid down to a simmer for a few minutes while you thinly slice your fruit. Next, simmer the sliced kumquats in the simple syrup mixture for 5 to 10 minutes depending on how thin they are. Strain out the fruit and continue simmering the syrup for a few more minutes until slightly thickened.
Sumo Rounds with Creme Fraiche and Demerara Sugar
A trick I learned from a Tasting Table last year: Chef Josiah Citrin of Melisse pairs Sumo segments with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of Demerara sugar. This is my go-to dinner party dessert for the full run of Sumo season.