Recipe: Italian Poached Whole Oranges

ITALIAN POACHED WHOLE ORANGES

8 medium seedless oranges
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Cointreau

Rinse oranges, then use a vegetable peeler to remove zest in long strips. Stack up 3 or 4 strips at a time and slice zest into thin julienne strips. Place in small saucepan and cover with water. Place on medium heat and bring to a boil. Pour through strainer and discard liquid. Put zest in small bowl and cover with water. Set aside.

Place an orange on cutting board and use a small, sharp knife to cut away stem and blossom ends. Stand orange on one of the cut ends and cut from top to bottom, following contour of the orange and removing all the skin and pith to expose the flesh below.

Choose a medium saucepan that will hold 3 or 4 oranges at a time. Combine water and sugar in pan on medium heat and bring syrup to a boil, stirring occasionally to make sure that sugar has dissolved.

When syrup boils, add 3 or 4 oranges and continue to cook, gently turning oranges all around in the syrup occasionally, until syrup returns to a boil. Lift oranges out of the syrup with a slotted spoon and place in single layer in shallow bowl. Repeat with remaining oranges until all of them have been poached.

Keep syrup over heat and add blanched orange zest. Return syrup to a gentle boil and cook zest in syrup for about 2 minutes.

Pour syrup and zest over cooked oranges. Cover them (even if they are still warm) and cool to room temperature. After oranges have cooled, refrigerate until serving time.

TO SERVE:
Just before serving, arrange oranges on round or oval platter. Use a slotted spoon to remove zest from syrup and scatter it over oranges. Pour about a third of the remaining syrup over oranges and sprinkle with orange liqueur.

Serve oranges in dessert bowls or on plates. Spoon some syrup on the platter over each orange. There may be a temptation to add cream or ice cream, but this dessert doesn't really need anything that would detract from the fresh flavor of the oranges.

Any leftovers can be covered and refrigerated.

Makes 8 servings
Source: Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri and David Joachim