Tangerines
{Tangy, honey-sweet with a zip-off skin}
Whether it’s the tight skinned Murcott variety (AKA honey tangerine) with its dense and juice flesh or the loose Satsuma, tangerines brighten the drear of winter with their sunny personality and brilliant orange color. A seasonal alternative at breakfast to fresh squeezed OJ, tangerine juice crosses easily from the sweet to the savory kitchen. Some of my favorite uses: marinating roasted red peppers in juice with a touchsalt, pepper, minced garlic and balsamic vinegar; flavoring a white butter sauce (beurre blanc) with a fragrant reduction of the juice served alongside a grilled fillet of salmon; sprightly mimosas at brunch made from equal parts of off-dry champagne and chilled tangerine juice. But unfailingly when the citrus season begins, almost instinctually I turn to making a sorbet, a concoction of the juice and simple syrup, whirled and frozen in an ice cream machine. With the proper balance of syrup to juice, the mixture lightens to a pale orange and has the creamiest mouthfeel.
