Among the winter fruits of the Mediterranean tradition, we cannot forget oranges. Succulent, sweet, versatile, many qualities that have made them the queens of the table, and often of the main after-meals, of Italian tables.
The orange tree, or Citrus sinensis, is a member of the Rutacea family, a family of plants that mainly originate from what is now China and spread thanks to merchants and their ability to proliferate in the Mediterranean climate, even in our country.
The genus Citrus (to which oranges belong) has the characteristic of producing a fruit in the form of a berry with regular segments, with sacs inside containing a more or less acidic juice. Renowned in the public mind for the amount of vitamin C (about 100mg per orange), they also have an interesting amount of water per serving (about 85%), but also of sugar (15-20g for an average orange), good is also the value of calcium and magnesium per orange (about 11mg).
Hence, an excellent fruit for a snack or lunch, due to its ability to have a semi-hard rind that makes it easy to carry, but to be used with caution especially in cases of sedentary lifestyle and/or sugar-related diseases.
Commonly the juice extracted by squeezing or centrifuging is consumed, although nutritionally the whole fruit is more recommended to exploit the satiating power and glycaemic management of the fibres. In the culinary tradition they are used to enrich desserts, by extracting and concentrating the juice they are often combined with fattier meats to give a mix of acidity and sweetness to the dish (such as the famous duck in orange sauce), for more sporty people I also recommend them combined with rice for a sweet risotto that can help quickly replenish sugars lost through training.
Let's now look at a simple recipe to refresh and colour the dreary winter lunches.
RICH SALAD OF FENNEL AND ORANGES (2 persons)
- 1 medium fennel
- 1 orange clove
- 50g bread croutons
- 30g pitted olives
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Pomegranate seeds (to taste)
- 250g chicken breast (or turkey)
- 10ml soy sauce
PREPARATION
Clean and cut the fennel into strips, cut the stalks into smaller rounds and place in a bowl with the extra virgin olive oil. Peel the orange, cut the segments in half and add to the fennel and oil, mix everything together. Separately, shred the chicken (or turkey) breast and pan-fry with soy sauce or a dash of white wine (if white wine is added, add a pinch of salt). Add the pitted olives, chicken and last of all the pomegranate seeds to the fennel and oranges.
Serve with the previously toasted bread croutons.
Enjoy!
(Article by Dr Paolo Gallo)
