I seem to have ended up with a glut of oranges, I can’t quite remember why, and I needed something to do with them. Now, this is going to sound a bit crap but, despite being very fond of oranges and their products, I absolutely hate peeling them. I hate the bits of pith up my nails and the fact that they make my fingers sore and I don’t like the sticky, sickly smell that only occurs when someone else is peeling them. What makes a human being think it’s ok to eat an orange on the London Underground for example?
There was a 30-second flash of sunshine yesterday, so I decided to make ice-cream. The recipe I use calls for four egg yolks, which leaves four egg whites with which to make meringues. Hurrah! I have an ice cream maker which does all the churning for me. If you don’t have one, you need to semi-freeze the ice cream, take it out, whip it again, then return it to the freezer.
Also remember, you could use lemons for a lovely tangy alternative. Or indeed mangoes.
ORANGE ICE CREAM
Utensils:
1 x lemon squeezer or juice extractor
1 x medium bowl
1 x grater with a fine-grating side
1 x electric mixer or a wooden spoon and a firm hand
1 x small saucepan
1 x medium saucepan
1 x heatproof bowl to go on the top of it
1 x freezerproof container with a lid
Ingredients:
4 large oranges
4 egg yolks
4oz / 120g castor sugar
½ pint / 10floz / 300ml single cream
¼ pint / 5floz / 150ml double cream – lightly whipped
2oz dark chocolate drops or grated chocolate (optional)
Method:
Squeeze every drop of juice out of the oranges and put to one side
Finely grate the zest of the oranges
Put the grated zest into a heat proof bowl with the egg yolks and sugar
Beat thoroughly until slightly lighter in colour
Heat the single cream in the small saucepan until almost boiling
Stir the single cream into the egg yolk and orange zest
Place this bowl of a medium pan of simmering water
Stir until thickened, then remove from the heat
Add the orange juice, stir well, then set aside in the fridge to cool
When cold, fold the whipped double cream into the mixture
If you have an ice cream maker, put the mixture in it with the chocolate drops and let it do its work
If you don’t, pour the mixture into the freezer-proof container & put the lid on
Place in the freezer until it resembles slush
Take it out and beat it again – add the chocolate if you’re using it
Return it to the freezer with the lid on again and leave until frozen.
Wartime Housewife 
I too have an overabundance of oranges right now, and this recipe darn near made my day!
Wait till you taste the ice-cream, Fanny – it’s heavenly.
Like you, WH, I do hate the whole issue with oranges, for the very reasons you give. I eat easy-peeler clementines from my milkman (the ones from Tesco are not sufficiently easy-peeler for me!). This ice cream sounds lovely.
Well……..that’s going on my list of makes!
Julie xxxxxxxx
Your comment regarding the smell of peeled oranges reminded me immediately of one of my English teachers: a rather eccentric priest, probably then in his mid-40s, who wore a biretta and frequently conducted lessons while sat on the teacher’s desk in the lotus position. He also took snuff during lessons, and doubled up as the Drama Department. He would walk into the room, pause very briefly, and declaim loudly, ‘Somebody has been eating oranges. Don’t deny it!’
How extraordinary! I bemoan the loss of those eccentric teachers from the past. We had lots at my prep school and I still think about them with great fondness.
If I had a more sordid bent, I might ask whether oranges were the only fruit… but I’m not going to.
I’m not sure they’re all in the past: our senior management might argue they’re all too present (though I think some might substitute ‘barking’ for ‘eccentric’).
But to be realistic, I do think that frequent observations for performance management, plus the constraints of OfSTED, tend to force teachers into a mould. Whether one sees that as a good or a bad thing depends rather on your outlook and that, in turn, very much on your own experience of schooling. Personally, I’d go for ‘mad but memorable’ any time over ‘dull and worthy’.
And which are you, Philip? Dare I suspect the former…..