Four ways with blood orange, Convoy of discontent & mad as hell
I’m waking up this, bright sunny late winter’s morning thinking I should be full of some sort of rage, teaming with anger at someone and everything, a wild, unfocused seething at the system, a scene for the 70’s movie Network comes to mind.
‘I’m a human, God damn it! My life has value!’ So I want you to get up now go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!!’
It’s Monday 22nd August and if the threat has been realised there should be and stream of angry people charging down the nearby Barton highway, I want to say in the ‘caravan of courage’ but that something entirely different, the procession of discontent..no-confidence that’s it, the convoy of no confidence.
But first, continuing my probable misquote from Network “I’ve gotta get mean, I gotta dig deep” but now I’ve gotta take the dog for a walk. And here I find it hard to keep some sort of anger brewing. My dog, one of those poodle-cross things that the pet shops are full of, has this amazing coat of hair, can’t see his feet, eyes or mouth, just a mop of tangled ginger hair, so I took him off to Yass for his usual clipping. Well when I picked him up I was sure they gave me a different dog, because this, now female looking arrangement with fluffy tail and ears, eyebrows much like Sam the sheepdog, surely isn’t Pooka. In a word ridiculous so strolling down the lane it’s hard to keep the fires of uncontrolled rage that I’m meant to be feeling today burning, with this silly looking dog bounding around after rabbits.
I’m thinking that there’s more to this than people not wanting a tax on carbon, windmills and a national broadband network. Maybe, just maybe, the anger is to do with diet and, sit down, a detox might be cathartic, might heal the soul. I’m feeling that way myself, I was all set to charge into Canberra and rage against the machine when I thought hang on, I actually don’t feel strongly either way. Being not one iota a political animal having being blessed with parents who felt strongly about cancelling each other’s vote out, I have never once voted for the political party who gets in. I mean Mark Latham seemed reasonable?
So here’s my plan, cleanse the body and hopefully the mind but which detox diet will works it magic on my countenance? Googling away its easy to find heaps to choose from: Green smoothies diet, na sounds like wheatgrass and that bird has flown; fruit flush diet, seems reasonable until you see that you have to buy expensive protein drinks off an old weightlifter; the lemonade diet, well seems to work for the kids; the you are what you eat diet…don’t get it, that would make me a deer/duck/ham.
All looks like too much work so I’ll just make it up myself. Blood oranges are in season at the moment and it doesn’t take too much time to see that these are natures perfect fruit, not only super high in vitamin C and A, but loads of folic acid, calcium and packed with anthocyanins, natures own anti-oxidant. So here’s what I’m going to do, get a heap of them and see if it helps the demeanour, if so I’ll patent the idea and make a squillion like the buff weightlifters, if not excuse my behaviour at the next rage against the government.
Here are five things to do with blood oranges
1. Simply add them to the morning juice, mixed with normal oranges, carrots and a spike of ginger, you get the day going it the most positive way, love the colour here.
2. At the other end of the day that make a fantastic addition to a range of cocktails (Yes, it is an hypocrisy to detox with alcohol, but there you have it) It is the perfect companion to Campari; mix two part of good gin with 1 of Campari, a splash of vermouth (Kina Lillet if possible) over ice and rub the rim with the skin of the orange and top with 3 parts blood orange juice.
3. A simple salad, cut segments of blood orange and mix with baked baby beetroots, raw rhubarb, red onion and parsley, dress with good olive oil and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche on the side, see you probably feel better just thinking about that.
4. Another salad, a bit more work. Sicilian blood orange salad, this is where the oranges apparently come from, the slopes of Mt Edna, the volcanic air giving rise to the colour, use the very dark and bloody, sanguiniccio.
Sicilian blood orange salad
3-4 blood oranges, segments, use juice too
1 small red onion, finely sliced, soak in chilled water to tame
A pile of rocket as a bed
½ cup of Kalamata olives, pitted plus half a dozen sliced for garnish
Full flavoured olive oil
Handful of goats or sheeps milk feta, crumbled
6 dried figs, chopped
½ cup of day old bread, broken into rough shapes, cooked in olive oil until crispy
In a warm oven drizzle olives with oil, bake until dark, soft but not burned, puree with extra olive oil to a pouring look. Drizzle the puree onto a plate with an artistic flare, toss everything else together and pile up on top, more oil to dress, add crouton last.
5. Sashimi of king fish with blood orange and ginger vinaigrette
A lovely recipe from Tetsuya, one of the best ways of serving this fish fresh.
120g Kingfish, sliced thin, skin off
1 blood orange, segmented, pith free
A mixture of chopped chives, parsley, coriander, some mixed baby lettuce and finely sliced spring onion
Ginger vinaigrette (mix together just before serving)
1 drop of orange oil
1 drop of Banyuls vinegar, a light red wine vinegar will work
¼ tspn each of grated ginger and garlic
1 tspn salty soy
Salt and pepper
Arrange the fish and segments, dress and sprinkle with herb mixture. Done.
Steamed blue-eye with pickled vegetable noodles and ponzu
2 250g plump fillets of blue-eye, skin on (or use another big fish)
200g brine (35% salt)
Oils on hand: grapeseed and sesame
Vegetables: a mixture of cucumber, daikon, carrot and wombok (Asian cabbage)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt flakes
Steamed sushi rice
Garnish, toasted sesame seeds, chopped spring onions
Ponzu dressing
60ml light soy sauce
40ml citrus juice (see above)
5ml rice wine vinegar
10ml mirin
60ml dashi
Pinch of minced ginger
Mix together
First prepare the vegetables, cut them all into a long julienne, you can get little hand shredders that do this, use about the same quantities of each vegetable. In a bowl season with sugar and salt and leave for 20 minutes, drain off any collected brine. Steam the fish for 8-10 minutes over barely simmering water, once almost ready heat a pan with a splash of both oils until it just starts to smoke. On a plate, have the fish skin side up, scatter spring onions and pour over the sizzling oil, this sears in the flavour a slightly crispens the skin, serve on a bed of vegetables, rice and dressing on the side, sprinkle all with sesame seed and extra spring onion.
