LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Winter Clementine Dessert Salad


Winter Clementine Dessert. Photo Susie Iventosch

Darius Somary of SpringLoaf Catering likes to make a fresh and fruity, yet festive dessert at this time of the year, made with sliced Clementines, almond croquant, orange blossom infused honey, shaved chocolate and fresh mint.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

6-8 whole seedless Clementines, peeled (alternatively Satsumas or navel oranges)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup slivered almonds*

2 teaspoons orange blossom essence (available at Diablo Foods, Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods etc.)

11/2-2 tablespoons honey

3-4 leaves of fresh mint, chopped

1 oz. Toblerone (or any other favorite dark or milk chocolate bar)*

Directions

Almonds

In a small stainless saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Continue cooking on medium heat until all the water is evaporated and sugar starts tuning color to a very light brown. Turn off heat and carefully add all nuts to caramel in one go. Stir caramel/nut mixture well using a wooden spoon or heat proof rubber spatula and immediately turn out onto a dinner plate. Careful: the caramelized nuts will be very hot, don't touch them with bare hands. Let them cool to room temperature. When the nuts are cool, pulse them in a food processor for 20 seconds, or crush them by putting them in a Ziploc freezer bag and pounding it with a heavy saucepan, mallet or hammer (watch your fingers!)

In the meanwhile, peel the Clementines, remove all the pith (the white stuff) without pulling apart the segments. Try and keep the Clementine as intact as possible. Now cut each Clementine into 4-5 slices using a sharp kitchen knife, and set aside

Honey Syrup:

Combine honey and rose water in a cup, mix well and microwave for 30 seconds on high until hot and very runny, let it cool down a bit.

To Serve

Arrange Clementine slices on a large dinner plate right before serving, top them with the rosewater honey syrup, then carefully sprinkle on the crushed caramelized nuts. Grate your favorite chocolate right over the entire plate and top with chopped mint. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Notes* To grate the chocolate, use your box grater, a Microplane zester or ribbon grater, or use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls. Instead of slivered almonds you can also use cashews or peanuts. For a quicker version, skip the nut caramelizing part and use honey roasted peanuts or store bought caramelized almonds instead.