Fifty-Plus News - Pastiche with Virginia Hill

Tangelo temptations

It’s hard to imagine the super thin and image conscious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis tucking into a chilled chocolate souffle, but no doubt like a lot of diet conscious people who deprive themselves of reasonable meals, she considered desserts a reward for her privation and this month I have an adaptation of one of her favourite sweet treats. Featuring tangelos, which are now in season, it was served at the then Senator Kennedy’s Georgetown house.
If you’re not familiar with tangelos they are a hybrid between a tangerine and a pomelo (a kind of ancestral grapefruit) and they have inherited the deep orange skin of the tangerine variety of mandarin. Minneola is the strain of tangelo popularly enjoyed in Australia as it combines the best of both words – the sweetness and easy peeling of a mandarin with the tang of a grapefruit.
Australian grown tangelos originated in Florida, USA, and have now become one of the most popular varieties of citrus fruits with more than 100,000 trees planted nationally. Three quarters of this year’s 6,500 tonne crop is grown in the South Australian Riverland and Victoria’s Sunraysia regions and the balance in Queensland, Riverina NSW and Western Australia.
Interestingly, the export market continues to develop, with a quarter of a million cartons going to our largest customer, the USA, as well as to New Zealand and Japan. This year’s crop will retail around the same price as quality mandarins and because the growing season has experienced hot summer weather and less windy weather than previously, sugar levels are higher and acid levels lower, which ensures great flavour as well as good looking fruit. For the sweet tooth, as the season continues into late September, the sweetness of the fruit will heighten even further.
You will find men and children like tangelos as they are easy to peel (research shows men will eat fruit if it’s peeled for them) and have few if any pips. Zapping a tangelo in the microwave for 20 seconds further assists the peeling process, and remember, they provide a healthy dose of vitamin C, energy and dietary fibre as well as anti-oxidants. Like all citrus, tangelos contain virtually no fat or cholesterol.
However, the best thing about tangelos is that they are so useful when cooking – for instance, the outer skin is great for zesting to add flavour to desserts, dressings and winter casseroles, and because they are easy to segment they may be tossed through salads or added to desserts, whilst the juice is a breakfast starter and useful addition to cakes and puddings.
Tangelos freeze well; just wrap them individually in a paper towel before placing in a freezer bag, making it easy to separate the fruit down the track. Tangelo peel can also be dried in the microwave and stored for later use – try adding it to curries (see page 87 of ‘Zap to the Max’).
Tangelo marmalade is a great favourite with everyone and is easily and quickly made in the microwave oven. Following is a recipe which includes craisins, which are dried cranberries available from the dried fruit section of supermarkets.

TANGELO & CRAISIN MARMALADE
5 tangelos, unskinned and finely sliced
Juice 2 limes
170g craisins
300g white sugar
500g raw sugar
1/3 cup brandy
Place tangelos, limejuice and craisins in a 2-litre microwave safe jug or bowl. Microwave uncovered on High (100%) for 10 minutes.
Stir in sugar and microwave, uncovered on High (100%) for 10 minutes.
Stir in the brandy and microwave, uncovered on High (100%) for 10 minutes.
Stir well to equalise the temperature, then microwave uncovered on High (100%) for a final 10 minutes.
Cool and bottle in sterilised jars.

JACKIE KENNEDY’S SOUFFLE FROID AU TANGELO & CHOCOLAT
For the souffle:
100g dark cooking chocolate
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 cup milk
6 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
600mls thickened cream
1 tangelos & zest
tangelos skinned & segmented
2 tablespoons Cointreau
peanut oil
Topping:
Zest of 1 tangelo
100g dark cooking chocolate finely chopped
Place chocolate broken into a large microwave safe jug and melt uncovered on Medium (50-60%) for 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in icing sugar and mix well. Set aside.
Heat milk in a small saucepan until a film shows on the surface.
Slowly stir milk into chocolate mixture and microwave on Med High (70-80%) stirring several times until mixture just reaches boiling point. Do not boil.
Remove jug from microwave and mix in gelatine, sugar, vanilla essence.
Pour mixture into a bowl. Refrigerate until slightly thickened: about an hour.
Remove chocolate mixture from fridge and beat with whisk until light and airy.
Pour cream into a separate bowl and beat with an electric mixer until it holds a shape.
Fold cream into chocolate mixture, then fold in tangelos and zest.
Fold a long strip of foil over lengthwise and lightly oil it on one side. Tie the foil, oil side in, around a one-quart souffle dish to make a collar standing 4cms above the top.
Spoon the tangelo mixture into the prepared dish and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (Souffle can be made a day ahead and kept covered and refrigerated.)
To serve, carefully remove foil collar and decorate top with zest and chocolate.
Serves 6-8.

• Contact Virginia Hill at her Cooking Centre, 10c Cromwell Road, South Yarra, 3141, telephone 9804 7235, email: virginiahill@i.net.au Use the same contact details for copies of 'Zap to the Max' $19.95 plus $5 delivery charge. Virginia also presents a radio show on 3RPH every Tuesday morning, beginning on 6 April, 2004.

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