Thursday, January 17, 2008

Orange You Glad Spring is Coming?

January heralds orange season in southern California. I have three productive trees and, while I look forward to all the fresh, citrus-y goodness, it can be overwhelming when you have a harvest like mine.

Orange season.

Over the weekend I baked three orange cakes, each one requiring over 1 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice. I just finished putting in the crock-pot some sort of turkey-cranberry-orange concoction that I will post about later in the week if it turns out well. I've made chocolate covered orange wedges and fresh squeezed juice. I've stuffed them in chickens and roasted them with root vegetables. On the weekends The Mister and I squeeze one over Tequila on the rocks. I think this weekend I will take some of the oranges and make a marinade of sorts with the limes coming in off our tree. The Mister will probably take a few and make homemade Margarita mix, too.

So, I've baked, simmered, dipped, squeezed, stuffed, and, of course, eaten oranges for the last two weeks. Here is what's left of my supply.

Oranges

I know. I haven't even made a dent, and from what I hear there are people in the Midwest who would kill for my supply. Grass-is-always-greener anecdotes aside, do any of you have some recipes that require lots and lots of oranges? We're good cooks and adventurous eaters, so fire away!