5 Ways to Use Dried Citrus Peels

"One of our New Year's resolutions is to find more ways to use kitchen scraps, and with all the Cara Cara oranges, Kishu mandarins, and other citrus fruits we've been eating, we now have plenty of dried peels saved. Here are some of the ways we use them. Let us know if you have any tips, too. Last winter, we made a list of 5 Good Uses for Your Citrus Peels, which included both fresh and dried peels. This time, we're focusing on more ways to use the peels we have dried in the oven or air dried on a drying/cooling rack. We keep them stored in air-tight containers in the pantry. (Note: we recommend using pesticide-free fruit only.)
• Grains: Infuse rice or quinoa with citrus flavor by adding dried peels to the water during boiling/steaming. Peels may be eaten or removed before serving.
• Powder: Grind peels with a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and sprinkle over baked goods (combine with sugar for sweetness), use in marinades and rubs, or anything else you can think of.
• Roasted vegetables: Although it isn't a substitute for fresh zest, dried lemon or even orange peel does work well in roasted dishes. Try tossing large pieces or ground-up peels with roasting beets and other root vegetables.
• Sweet bean soup: In Chinese cooking, Mandarin orange peels are added to sweet dessert soups. For recipes, check out A Table For Two's Red Bean Soupand Diana's Desserts' Sweet Red Bean Soup.
• Tea: Mix orange or lemon peels into homemade tea blends or just add to green or black tea as it's steeping."
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Red Quinoa & Roasted Root Vegetable Salad

1 medium turnip
2 medium orange carrots
2 medium parsnips
6 baby yellow carrots
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 Tbsp oil olive
1 orange
1/2 lemon
3 Tbsp avocado oil
1 Tbsp honey
1 cup red quinoa
 salt
freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 400º.
Prepare vegetables: Cut off tops of baby carrots, reserving half of stalks and fronds. Wash carrots with vegetable brush. Wash and peel parsnips and turnips. Cut orange carrots, parsnips (remove hard core if desired) and turnips into 1/2 inch cubes. Leave baby carrots whole. Place all vegetables on large baking pan. Mince ginger, tossing 1/2 of minced ginger and 2 Tbsp olive oil with vegetables on baking pan. Place in reheated oven. Setting timer to 15 minutes. In the meantime bring to boil 2 cups of water in 2 quart saucepan. Once water is boiling add 1 cup of red quinoa, reduce heat to low and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of water. Remove from heat, keep covered and let sit for 10 minutes then fluff with fork. After vegetables have roasted for 15 minutes stir and place back in oven roasting until tender when pierced with fork and caramelized about 15 more minutes. In the meantime make dressing. Juice 1 orange and 1/2 lemon. Mix citrus juices with avocado oil and honey, whisking to combine. Add remaining minced ginger, season with salt and pepper to taste. Wash reserved stalks and fronds of baby carrots. Dice stalks, reserve fronds for garnish. Once vegetables are roasted and quinoa is ready, assemble salad. Combine chopped vegetables, diced carrot stalks, and quinoa mixing to evenly distribute vegetables. Pour dressing over salad, stirring to combine. To serve place salad on plate, followed by 3 baby carrots per plate, additional shaved ginger if desired, and carrot fronds.
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Halibut with Beets, Greens and Dill-Orange Gremolata

Happened upon this on the Epicurious.com website (Parent of Gourmet, Self, and Bon Appetit magazines). If you still have some beets left from last week, this would be a great use of them, along with the dill and oranges from this week! Serve with a side of roasted potatoes!

from Epicurious.com:
The whole beet—greens and all—is used in this clever, elegant main. Gremolata—a mixture of chopped herbs, garlic, and citrus peel—is the classic topping for osso buco. This garlic-free variation gives bright, fresh flavor to the halibut.

Ruby Root Slaw

A delicious and quick and simple side dish to prepare with all these wonderful root (and not) vegetables we've been getting lately! And the color is absolutely amazing! For a super easy way to section oranges and grapefruits, check this out--practically as easy as peeling the fruit!

http://veganyumyum.com/2007/01/making-pretty-orange-segments/


1 ruby-red grapefruit or 1 large orange
1 small/medium raw beet
1 large or 3-4 small kohlrabi bulbs
3-4 small salad turnips
2-3 carrots
1 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare grapefruit or orange sections--another easy way is to halve the fruit and scoop out the sections with a grapefruit spoon, but they definitely aren't as pretty or as large as doing it the "proper" way! Peel remaining vegetables as desired (of course I peeled the beet and removed the skin and woody layer from the kohlrabi, but the turnips and carrots kept their skins).

Grate the vegetables into a bowl, toss with grapefruit (and any juice that remains in the membranes--just give it a good squeeze over the bowl), olive oil, salt and pepper and enjoy!

I have to say, this is the first time I have eaten raw beets and actually enjoyed them! I think the secret was to not have them front and center, as the bulk of this salad comes from the other vegetables and the beets are added mostly for color (and really only made it into the salad because I still had one lingering in my fridge!). You could also make this without the grapefruit or orange if desired, and substitute a tablespoon or two of red wine or balsamic vinegar.

Lemon Cilantro Salad Dressing

I whipped up a quick and tasty salad dressing last night to go with a beautiful salad I brought to a dinner party. I wish I had taken a picture because it was colorful! The salad featured salad greens, spinach and purple cabbage from last week along with some red bell pepper, yellow carrots and avocado. I topped it off with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. I wanted to use some of the fine cilantro we got last week, so I decided to use it in the dressing along with our beautiful lemons. My inspiration for this dressing came from the Tucson CSA's newsletter from last week. The author, Lorraine Glazar of the Tucson CSA, gives substitution ideas depending on what herbs and/or citrus you might have on hand. Click on the link to see what they are. I left out the mustard because I didn't have it in the fridge and I added sun-dried tomatoes because I love them just a little too much. Enjoy!

lemon (juice and zest it)
1/4 c. oil ( I used about 2/3 Queen Creek Extra-Virgin olive oil and 1/3 hemp seed oil)
3-4 T. fine cilantro
1 clove garlic
4 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and herbs
splash white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Blend the ingredients in food processor or blender until the herbs are finely chopped and distributed through the dressing. Adjust seasonings to your liking.

Wheat Berry Salad with Citrus, Garbanzos, Toasted Pine Nuts, Feta and Spinach

So, another wheat berry recipe. I can't help it, I really like them! And, at last week's pick-up I noticed the trade box was pretty full of these guys, so I'm assuming CSA peeps are a little unsure on how to cook and eat these delicious morsels. I made a delightful salad the other day and I wanted to share it with all you lovely readers.

Anyway, this is a recipe I modified from Heidi Swanson's cookbook Super Natural Cooking. I added chickpeas for some more protein, subbed I'itoi onion for the shallot, added garlic, and added some chopped sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil for some color and taste. I also chopped up half an avocado on top because I love avocado on most food, especially salads. The citrus dressing was okay. Her recipe didn't call for white wine vinegar, but it needed a little kick. She had called for some lemon juice in the dressing, but I didn't have one. This salad would probably be great with any simple vinaigrette you had lying around the house.

1 1/2 c. cooked wheat berries

1 c. cooked garbanzo beans (white beans might be nice too)

Citrus Dressing

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange (maybe use grapefruit for an interesting twist)

couple tablespoons of white wine vinegar

1 I'itoi onion, chopped

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 clove chopped garlic

salt and pepper

3 handfuls spinach

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

sun dried tomatoes, chopped

avocado, chopped

You need to soak wheat berries overnight and cook them for about 90 min. to get them soft enough to eat. I used dried garbanzos, which also need to soak and cook for about 2 hours. You could use canned if you like. I ate the salad with warm wheat berries and beans, but it would be good cold as well. Mix up the dressing. Then, combine the dressing with the wheat berries, beans and the rest of the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In hindsight, I had leftovers and probably would have put the dressing on individually so it wouldn't get soggy in the fridge. These would feed about 3-4 as a main dish for lunch.