Juice is great, but these 8 recipes show why zest is best for bright citrus flavors - The Washington Post

The next time you’re making a citrusy dish, consider ramping up the flavor with not only the juice, but the zest of the fruit. The juice is good, but the zest — scraped or cut from the rind of fruits such as lemons, limes or orange — captures the oils in the skin delivering more intense flavor. Often, a bit of zest is all you need to get an intensely well-rounded citrus punch — a floral sweetness without any sour notes.

One way to harness the power of zest is by blooming it in a fat. As recipe developer Ali Slagle writes in this recipe for Lemon-Butter Parmesan Pasta, “when the zest of just one lemon sits in a skillet of melted butter, its oils release and permeate through the fat. The butter is now lemony without introducing the pucker of lemon’s juice. When we take a bite of something draped in this now-infused butter, the flavor lingers on our tongue longer that it would in its un-bloomed state.”

Another great way to use zest is by rubbing it into sugar, so the granules cut into the shreds of zest to release more oils, a technique you will see in baked goods recipes, such as this Apple and Pear Cake With Citrus and Nuts.

Zest also makes a flavorful, colorful garnish, so even if you don’t cook with it, a little shower over something like pasta or bean dish will be delicious.

The key to zesting well: Capture the colorful part of the skin — the orange, yellow and green — but leave the bitter white pith behind.

See below for some recipes where a little zest makes a big difference!

Any Citrus Tea Cake. Use any citrus you want — grapefruit, lime, lemon, any type of orange — to make this simple and satisfying cake that will be just right with your afternoon tea or coffee. This isn’t the only cake where zest will shine! The orange zest in this Tishpishti (Citrus Semolina Cake) is a gorgeous aromatic touch.

Key Lime Pie. This summery favorite uses zest for that extra punch of lime. Looking for lemon instead? A Whole Lemon Tart will hit the mark.

Ricotta Gnocchi With Leeks and Peas. You can use zest as a pasta finish, or you can add zest to the pasta itself! Zest folded into the ricotta dough adds a pleasant freshness with each bite.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( Juice is great, but these 8 recipes show why zest is best for bright citrus flavors - The Washington Post )
https://ift.tt/3y3oVae