I love fruit, and I can’t wait for the spring and summer fruits to come into season. If I can ever construct a dessert as perfect as a ripe peach, I’ll consider myself a lucky person. Usually, I just try to fit them into my diet whenever possible. So, I went on a fruit binge at the store yesterday, with an idea to make Caramel Tangerines from Lindsey Remolif Shere’s Chez Panisse Desserts.

I got to thinking that I love a lot of other things, too, though…. like cake… and ice cream… So, I devised a plan for a dessert of Yogurt Cake with Caramel Tangerines and Clove Ice Cream.

Although the ice cream is tinged with a spice associated with the holidays, I thought that the sprightly tangerines and tangy yogurt would round it out into a good early spring dessert. And it worked nicely. It was refreshing.

The Yogurt Cake comes from Chocolate & Zucchini, and turned out as delicious and moist as promised, with a wonderful kick of vanilla to boot.

The Clove Ice Cream, also from Chez Panisse Desserts, served as a creamy bridge between the cake and the tangerines. Shere recommended serving the tangerines with creme anglaise and I thought that the moist cake shouldn’t be joined by hard ice cream, so I used the ice cream shortly after freezing it so that it would be a little softer than usual, with some melting into a kind of sauce.

It was left to the caramel tangerines to be the rollercoaster of the evening. I’m not even sure that they turned out how they are supposed to, and although good, I can only recommend this recipe as a challenge to see what happens to yours. Mine eventually turned out much like hard candies with liquid centers. I quickly coated individual segments in a hot caramel, and before long they had thin, hard coatings when cool. When bit into, they exploded with tart tangerine juice (much like a candy I know I used to eat when young, but can’t remember the name of), and lingered with a few shards of hard caramel and some pulp in your mouth. Shere says that you want a “thin, crisp” coating on the fruit, but I’m not sure what the standard is.

I was also unsure about the state of this sugar and water mixture that you boil into caramel. I had to make it twice, and the same thing happened both times. The first time, as the sugar and water bubbled into darker shades, I could see the top get cloudy and the sugar adhering to the bottom of the pot in hard, hole-y structures. Soon, there was a full coral reef stuck to the bottom of the pot. Maybe the small ratio of water (6 Tbs) to sugar (2 cups) makes it dry out more… or I did something very, very wrong. So, I left the first pot to soak, and tried again. I didn’t want to agitate the sugar too much, but I also didn’t want it to dry out, so I ended up brushing water on the sides of the pot, and even gently on top of the mixture if I could see a sugar crust start to form. Although the coral formed on the edges (and hangs on even now as I write), I was left with a decent golden caramelized pool in the center in which I could roll the tangerine slices and a couple tangerines. That part was pretty easy, as the caramel was quite liquid-y and smooth and doesn’t bubble up at all. There is just the threat of it cooling down and getting thick, but it can be briefly reheated.

Once done, I faced another mystery: how are they supposed to be eaten? Of course, the slices are bite-size, but what would one do if confronted with a whole caramel tangerine served with cookies or creme anglaise, as she recommends? One suggests your hands, and one suggests a fork. If broken apart by hand, even the thinnest of caramelization could easily break off and make your hands sticky. The fork and knife seem like the most logical way, but that seems kind of awkward. And it’s not like you can just bite into it like a candied apple. So, as I said, the slices were fine, but next time, I would only partially coat them, since I think there was a bit too much caramelization for one slice.

Peeling the tangerines turned out to be pretty cool, though. Dunking them in cold water and scraping them with a paring knife does an amazing job of getting the pith off and leaving you with the freshest scrubbed tangerines you ever did see.

Caramel Tangerines

For 4 to 8 Servings; From Chez Panisse Desserts

• 4 to 8 tangerines
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 tbs water
• Butter for the plate and forks
• Mint or tangerine leaves

You can prepare the tangerines several hours before serving time: Peel them carefully, trying not to dig into the fruit or break it apart. When you have removed all the peel, dip the tangerine in a bowl of cold water and scrape it gently with a paring knife to remove as much as possible of the white pith remaining on the outside. You may have to dip the tangerine repeatedly. As you finish each tangerine, set it on a rack to dry, preferably for a few hours. The caramel sticks to them properly only if they are dry when you dip them.

Put the sugar in a heavy, deep light-colored pot. Pour the water over it and let it stand until it has moistened all the sugar, then set on the stove over medium heat. Have ready a pan of ice water to set the pot into if you need to stop the caramel cooking. Cook until the syrup becomes a light gold, somewhat lighter than you will want it finally, then take it off the heat. It will continue to darken slightly. If it begins to look reddish brown, set it into the pan of ice water immediately to cool it and stop the cooking.

Butter a plate or a baking sheet to set the tangerines on after dipping, and have two buttered forks ready. The caramel should be a nice golden color. Keep it as hot as possible without coloring it further, rewarming as necessary, so that it will make a thin, crisp coating on the fruit. If the caramel cools too much you will have a thick gloppy coating–not pretty, and hard to eat.

Drop a tangerine into the caramel and roll it quickly with the fork. Coat it completely with the caramel, then lift it out with the fork and set it on the buttered plate quickly, pushing it off one fork with the other. Be quick, or the caramel may stick to your fork and pull away from the tangerines as you set it on the plate. If you are careful to lift it by the part that will be the bottom there is no harm done; it won’t show anyway.

This process is tricky. You may want to practice it a bit with some small fruits, strawberries, for example, to get the feel.

Serve within an hour on a pretty plate. Decorate the tops with mint sprigs or tangerine leaves, which can be attached by first dipping their stems in caramel. Surround the fruits with a pool of creme anglaise. You can also serve a bowl of lightly sugared strawberries on the side. Serve with Langues de Chat or Lace Cookies.

Clove Ice Cream

Makes 1 qt, From Chez Panisse Desserts

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 12 whole cloves
• 6 egg yolks
• Optional: 1/16 to 1/8 tsp ground cloves

Warm the sugar, half-and-half, and cream with the whole cloves in a small pan to just under boiling and keep hot for 30 minutes or so. Taste the mixture to see how strong the flavor is; proceed when it is about as strong as you like. Whisk the egg yolks just enough to break them up. Stir some of the hot mixture into them to warm them and return to the pan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the spoon. Strain into a bowl and chill thoroughly, preferably overnight, to let the clove flavor develop. Taste again just before freezing and add a little ground clove if you like. Freeze according to the instructions with your ice cream maker.

We serve this with a Rhubarb Tart–it is a very nice combination. It is also good served with Lemon Ice Cream. You will want to make the clove flavor stronger if you are serving it with rhubarb, more delicate if it is going to be served alone or with another ice cream.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Recipes - Dessert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.