# Sticky  January 2023 Challenge: CITRUS



## butzy

As it says, anything citrus
Sweet, savoury, alcoholic, it doesn't matter.
Put a bit of lime juice in a dish and it qualifies, or lemon zest. Make orange glaze or just a grapefruit for breakfast. Or marmelade on toast 
Lots of choices.
And hopefully some nice entries
Start cooking 

The usual rules apply - so good luck and happy cooking.

The rules:
The challenge begins on the 1st of every month. The last entry must be made by the last day of the month.
You may post multiple entries.
All entries must be cooked during the month of the challenge.
If you use a documented recipe, please cite your source.
Entries should include the name of your dish and a picture of the final product. Sharing personal recipes and pictures of the process are not mandatory but extremely helpful.
The winner is chosen by the person who posted the challenge, and is announced after the last day of submissions. The decision is final and falls entirely at the discretion of the challenger.
Submitting an entry makes you eligible to win. If you do not wish to be considered for the win you may still participate in the challenge, but make your wishes known to the challenger.
The winner's bounty includes praise, virtual high-fives, and the responsibility of posting the next month's challenge. That entails choosing a theme, posting a Challenge thread that includes the guidelines, checking in on the submissions regularly during the month, and promptly choosing a winner at the end of the challenge.


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## chrislehrer

Well, my son will have a good month! He eats oranges at an incredible rate....


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## phatch

I'll be using lemons tonight when I cook here at my dad's place. I'll take pics but you won't see them until tomorrow probably.


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## brianshaw

Yay… I love citrus dishes, and citrus in dishes. Many of my citrus-based “magic bullets” were spent in the past months challenges so I’ll need to think of something new. Thinking… now that’s really challenging!


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## brianshaw

What should I have for breakfast… this:








or this:


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## chrislehrer

Personally I'd have a big Bloody Mary to help me think through the decision.


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## loomchick

I love it when something makes me laugh early in the morning. Thank you, brianshaw!


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## butzy

I had this vague idea that the first entry would be a G & T 
And that it would be Brian posting it.

We are off to a great start!


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## summer57

I picked up a Buddha's Hand today. Was going to freeze it until jam season, but maybe... I'll try to come up with something!


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## butzy

Buddha's hand?
No idea? Do you have a picture.
And for what it is worth: I declare jam season open!


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## summer57

butzy said:


> Buddha's hand?
> No idea? Do you have a picture.
> And for what it is worth: I declare jam season open!











I found this one at the local grocery, going to check out the Asian markets tomorrow. This one's a little on the scruffy side. I think it's called Citron in French, that's what it's called in my Christine Ferber recipe book, which is in French, hence, Citron lol. She has a few jam/jelly recipes that use it as an accent to pears, apricots, etc.
It's all pith, but not bitter like oranges or lemons, so you can use the whole fruit. It's big, this one is 350 gms. No juice, just the pith. I guess that's how they make candied citron for fruit cake, but it has such a beautiful fragrance and orangey/lemony/citrussy flavour. Nothing like commercial candied citron


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## butzy

It looks funny!
Never seen them before, so brownie points to you

Citron just means lemon


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## summer57

butzy said:


> It looks funny!
> Never seen them before, so brownie points to you
> 
> Citron just means lemon


I know! It looks ridiculous! I know about lemon=citron, but she specifically refers to it as Citron, separate from Lemon/citron. Confusing. We also saw it in the specialty confiserie shops in Nice. Ferber uses a few fruits in her confitures that I've rarely seen around here.


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## butzy

I'm getting it now.
Most cultivars we got today originate from the original Citron, Pomelo and Mandarin species (and Kumquat to a lesser extent)

More here:


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_taxonomy#Citrons


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## phatch

The lemons









Further zest preparation









I struggle with equal fineness as I apporach the end of the pile of zest. It gets harder to hold; my skills need more practice. I cut across into a fince mince, not pictured.

Melt a stick of butter. Brown to your desired level. Add GRATED garlic--I used a ginger grater. You want a paste that will disperse into the butter without any bits. This helps build the emulsification and oddly also prevents visible overcooking the garlic. I thought my pile of grated garlic looked small, so I minced up the garlic stubs left over from grating. Bit of a mistake that was. 

Stirring gently all the while to develop the emulsion, add half the lemon zest, stir til aromatic, add lemon juice, maybe 3/4 of the juice so you can adjust the final acidity to taste along the way. Reduce a bit, add some cream and chicken base. The source recipe specifies Better than Bouillon, this is to save reduction time of using chicken stock but does explain you can use stock, you just have more reduction time. I'm not following the original recipe, which includes nuts and some other things. I'll link it at the end just for reference.











My garlic bits have betrayed me as you can see. Season with salt and pepper with consideration for the flavors of what you'll use it on.--Also remember additional saltiness from the parmesan cheese on the pasta if you'll be using any.

The whole purpose of this meal is to make something my dad will eat and can eat by himself cleanly. This means it needs to be fork friendly, not too saucy and not exotic. I'm pushing the exotic envelope a bit. He rejected my yogurt muesli mix for breakfast. Oops. So an omelet it was. He's into an affable sort of dementia at this point and his physical skills and interests are diminished. 

I brought the nonstick wok for ease of tossing the sauce and commercial ravioli together. I'm using two types, a round cheese and spinach and a square lobster ravioli. Of course one of the ravioli leaked giving me flecks of spinach. That's all right for home eating. 










I cut the asparagus prior to cooking for ease of fork eating for my dad. I cut the ravioli too on his plate. 









He ate all that I served him so I guess it was a success. I thought it quite good on the lobster ravioli especially.









The butteriest, lemoniest, simplest weeknight pasta sauce


Try this super-quick, über-easy way to upgrade simple pasta dishes




www.salon.com


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## butzy

Nice dish @phatch , esp being cooked for your dad.
Good upgrade of store bought ravioli.
When I started reading I thought you were going to make pasta al limone


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## phatch

I suppose it pretty much is pasta al limone. A little more savory games played with the chicken base.


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## brianshaw




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## phatch

My friends on New Years were doing French Mules, brandy or cognac instead of vodka


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## brianshaw

I stand corrected. 😂









It’s a new year so why not a new-to-me cocktail!

EDIT: this was a really good suggestion. I liked it immensely. Thanks @phatch.


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## phatch

Nuoc cham











Being applied:


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## butzy

Nice @phatch 
I love that stuff 

OK guys & girls, it's the weekend. Show us some nice food!
Fried fish maybe, with some slices of lemon?
Lemon meringue pie?
Homemade lemonade?


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## brianshaw

*Hollandaise Sauce, as a key component of Eggs Benedict*



























Inspired by a recent "conversation" following the thread on an alternative way to make bechamel:


> Ha ha ha, and I suppose you make Hollandaise in a blender too.........


I took that as a challenge, of sorts, and make this a "challenge within a challenge"! * Can anyone tell how this hollandaise was made?*


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