Winter Blood Oranges

I tasted my first blood orange the first winter we were in Verona when I was six.  They were newly arrived at our local market from Sicily, and we thought what a wonderful place Sicily must be to have such beautiful ruby red oranges when everyone else had snow.  We looked forward to their arrival every year and greatly missed them when we moved back to the United States, where all the oranges were, well, orange.

Blood oranges, or tarocco in Italy, are a late crop and come to the market after all the tiny mandarins and clementines are finished.  In Tuscany I see them as late as May, picked in the winter and held till the spring.  While the skin can be orange or pale red, the inside is a beautiful dark maroon.

I’ve found them this winter at Trader Joe’s.  They’re not from Sicily but from California, where they’re smaller than what we get in Italy, but just as tasty and beautiful.  In Italy the Arancia Rossa di Sicilia is a registered DOP food product and is most often found as juice in the grocery store.

The skin of the blood orange is thin and sweet.  I like to eat them like an apple, biting through the peel into the juicy pulp that’s as brilliant and colorful as a sunset.  They’re versatile, just as wonderful in savory dishes like roasted rabbit with oil-cured olives, or sliced with fresh fennel in a salad, as they are for dessert.

One of my favorite desserts is crepes stuffed with Nutella and topped with blood orange slices that have been warmed in butter and Grand Marnier.  I served it for dessert recently and after eating it, one of my friends at the table put his fork down, looked around and said “that might be the best dessert I’ve ever tasted.”  The taste of orange and chocolate never fails to make a big impression!

So here’s a wonderful dessert for a winter night.  The crepes are easy to make ahead and keep covered in the fridge for several days.  You can use regular oranges, but for a special elegant look, try to find blood oranges.  Buon Appetito!

Crespelle with Nutella
Crepes:  makes about 25
2 ½ cup flour
4 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp melted butter
2 cups milk, more if needed
dash nutmeg
½ teas salt

Mix liquid ingredients together, make a well in the flour and add the liquid ingredients to the flour.  Whisk together, add salt and nutmeg. Strain the crepes batter through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.
Using a non-stick skillet or crepes pan, heat a small amount of butter or oil, add a small scoop of the batter to the heated pan, tilting and turning the pan quickly to evenly distribute the batter before it sets. The crespelle should be thin and even. Turn the crespelle as soon as it is cooked through, before the bottom browns. Stack them on top of each other as they are done. They won’t stick together, cover with plastic  wrap and keep in the fridge.

For the sauce: Slice 2-3 oranges, enough for each person to have 2-3 slices.  Melt 2 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp sugar the juice of one orange in a sauté pan, add the orange slices and tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau and allow to cook for 2 minutes.  To serve, place two crepes on each plate, arrange 2-3 orange slices on top and pour a small amount of sauce over all. The orange slices should be eaten peel and all.
To warm the crepes: Place a teaspoon of Nutella on a crepe, fold in half, then half again so the crepe forms a triangle.   Place the triangles on a baking sheet like shingles, one overlapping the other, and put in a 350° oven for 5 minutes.