citrus – Cook and Drink

Panna Cotta with Yuzu

13 March 2025

When you shop at an Asian supermarket, you will see many products with yuzu: ponzu, yuzu dressing, jelly with yuzu flavour, yuzu marmalade, yuzu soy sauce, yuzu tea and even yuzu skincare. Probably the shop will also sell fresh yuzu juice. And if you’re lucky, they will have the real thing: yuzu!

Yuzu (Citrus Junos) is a citrus fruit and it looks like a small lemon or clementine, with an uneven skin. It is of Chinese origin and it was introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710-794). It’s expensive (we saw them on the market for 5 euro a piece), they have lots of seeds and very little juice. The flavour is tart but gentle, very aromatic and will make you think of mandarin, only different. The peel is as delicious as the juice. The combination of flavors and fragrancy makes it a unique citrus. Not a fruit to eat on its own. Use it to add freshness and aroma to a dish or sauce.

Yuzu juice costs between 30 and 100 euro per liter (because of the small amount of juice per yuzu) and therefore products with yuzu tend to be expensive. If not, check the label and make sure it contains yuzu. Especially ponzu shoyu (made with mirin, rice vinegar, katsuobushi, kombu, yuzu and soy sauce) is often made with lemon.

We also noticed the term ‘yuzu style’ which is a clear indication no yuzu is used. We spotted a bottle of Yuzu Style Dressing. It contains mandarin, lemon, apple, vinegar and lots of other ingredients, but no yuzu.

We bought our yuzu at a farmers’ market and on our way back home we thought about things to make with it. Perhaps our own yuzu kosho (a paste made with chili, yuzu and salt)? Or combine it with miso and cod? Or yuzu syllabub (with cream and sugar)?

Why not panna cotta?

What You Need

500 ml Cream
30 ml Yuzu Juice
10 ml Lemon Juice
Yuzu Zest
25 grams of Sugar
3,5 leaves of Gelatine (5,25 grams)

What You Do (for 4)

Slowly bring the cream to the boil.
Keep close to boiling for 15 minutes. Stir when necessary.
Add the juice and some of the zest.
Remove from the heat and while stirring add sugar until totally dissolved.
Follow the instruction of the gelatine and add the leaves.
Stir well until homogeneous.
Cool the liquid somewhat before filling the forms. We used a silicone mold. Nice and easy! The only thing you need to do is to make the mold a bit moist with water.
Let the panna cotta cool and then store in the refrigerator until set.
Don’t forget to seal with cling foil, otherwise your panna cotta will absorb aromas from other food in the refrigerator.
Decorate with yuzu zest.

PS

If you can’t find yuzu or find them too expensive, then use 30 ml Lemon Juice and 10 ml Mandarin (or Clementine) Juice.
The amount of gelatine you need is a bit tricky. The acidity of the yuzu will thicken the cream and it will reduce the gelling effect of the gelatine. We decided to use the normal quantity.

Marmalade

7 March 2024

We love a cup of (Russian) Earl Grey or Lady Grey. Black teas flavoured with oil of bergamot (Citrus Bergamia), which gives the tea a lovely citrusy flavour.
You could imagine how happy we were when we saw fresh bergamots on the market. Yellow, the size of an orange and very fragrant. Great to use for a tarte au citron, for a curd or for marmalade.
The juice of the bergamot is fairly similar to lemon juice. Bitter, pungent, perhaps a bit more tart. The rind is fragrant, has a powerful aroma and a (bitter) taste. Bergamot oil is made of the rind and often added to perfumes and cosmetics.

We also used the bergamot juice to make a kimizu-like sauce, served with fried fish. The result was okayish but certainly not our best idea!

What You Need

(organic) Citrus Fruit (Oranges, Mandarins, Lemons, Bergamots or a mix of these)
Sugar
Water

What You Do

Weigh and wash the fruit. Cut into quarters and slice the quarters into thin slices. Transfer to a pan. Add some water, bring to a boil and cook on low heat for 15-30 minutes until the peel is translucent. Now add sugar (we use a ratio fruit to sugar of 2:1, but feel free to add more sugar). Cook on medium heat until the marmalade starts to thicken. This may take 15-30 minutes depending on the fruit. Transfer to clean jars, let cool and enjoy a few days later!

Nothing Fancy!

19 June 2023

Recently we reviewed Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman as part of the inspiring cookbook review project by Bernadette. The subtitle of Nothing Fancy is ‘Unfussy food for having people over’, and it contains ‘low-stress and high impact’ recipes. A book that promises to help you serve colourful plates, casually roasted meat and desserts, even when you’re struggling timewise. An interesting idea, having guests over for dinner or lunch, serving tasty food, remaining relaxed and enjoying every minute of it.

We prepared three dishes and asked our panel (Carolien, Hans and Joke) for their thoughts.

Tomato Salad

The first dish we prepared was a Tomato Salad with Anchovies and Fennel Seeds, a combination of ripe and tasty tomatoes with fennel flavoured oil and anchovies. Our panel was very happy with the salad. The combination of tomatoes and fennel is a trouvaille and the salty, umami flavour of the anchovy gives the salad an extra dimension. It’s great to serve as a salad on its own. It will also combine very well with swordfish or skate.

Green Pea Salad

The second dish (a Salad with Green Peas, Black Olives and Burrata) was very easy to make and absolutely delicious. We added some extra grated lemon and mint. Our panel was pleasantly surprised by the refreshing flavour, the aroma and the velvety, juicy mouthfeel.

Roasted Chicken

The third dish was casually Roasted Citrus Chicken with Herbs. The recipe suggests setting your oven to 230 °C or 450 °F. Isn’t that a bit too hot, we thought? But okay, let’s do as suggested and follow the recipe. We transferred the chicken to the hot oven. Five minutes later we were busy turning off the smoke alarm. Our panel had a good laugh (although we couldn’t hear them very well because of the noise). So far for remaining relaxed!

The chicken is marinated for a number of hours in a mix of lime and lemon juice, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, sambal and garlic cloves. Then fried in the oven on 180 °C or 355 °F and served with some cooking liquid, caramelised lemon and orange slices and a generous amount of herbs (Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano)

We served the citrus chicken with a glass of red wine made by Domaine La Tour Beaumont in the French Loire region. It is made using Gamay grapes, well known from the Beaujolais region. A very fruity, juicy wine that should be served slightly chilled. We also served a glass of zero alcohol rosé produced by Domaine de L’Arjolle, made with Cabernet Franc and Syrah grapes. The wine is dry, aromatic and has long lasting taste (raspberry, strawberry). Beautiful colour, not sweet (as many other zero alcohol wines) and light. Both worked beautifully with the chicken and the herbs thanks to the lightness and the fruity flavours.

(Y) our Shelf

Should this book be on (y)our shelf? Definitely yes if you’re looking for tasty food that doesn’t require too much work. If you want to remain relaxed while cooking and entertaining, be sure to test the recipes before having people over, because some aspects of the recipes may need adjusting.

Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman is available via your local bookstore or the usual channels for US$ 20.00 or € 30,00.

Tomato Salad with Fennel and Anchovy ©cadwu

Green Pea Salad with Burrata and Black Olives ©cadwu

Lemon Curd

2 June 2022

A Lemon Meringue Pie, a Tarte au Citron or Scones with Lemon Curd: tasty, refreshing, bitter, sour, a bit sharp and sweet. We love it! Provided of course that the lemon is more than just juicy and sour.

This has been a bit of an issue over the past years. Similar to the German consumers who complained about the watery and flavourless Dutch tomatoes they bought around 1990, we think that most lemons lack aroma and taste. We tried limes, bought more expensive lemons, added a bit of yuzu, but in the end, we still missed the true taste and aroma of an old-fashioned lemon.

Until one day we bought a Bergamot lemon. Its aroma is intense, floral and long. The juice is sour, deeply citrusy, refreshing and bright. Exactly what we were looking for! We went home and prepared a lovely curd.

Recently we had a similar experience when we visited a dear friend. She grows a Makrut (or Thai) Lime tree, also known as Makrut Lime, in her garden mainly because she wants to use the fresh leaves in Thai and Indonesian dishes such as Tom Yum, Soto Ayam and various curries. The leaves have a complex citrus flavour with floral notes. We talked about the lovely yellow fruit and how you could use its very aromatic zest as well.
The fruit contains little juice, so when preparing a curd with Makrut limes, you need to add lime, Bergamot or lemon juice.

What You Need

65 ml of Lemon, Lime, Bergamot and/or Makrut Lime Juice
65 grams of Butter
100 grams of Sugar
One Egg
Zest

What You Do

Beat the egg, melt the butter and combine all ingredients. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. Cook Au Bain Marie until you have the right consistency. Or transfer to your microwave, put it on 50% or 70% power and heat with intervals of 20-30 seconds. Mix between the intervals. This is a very precise way of heating the mixture and it gives you full control over the process. Towards the end of the process you may want to reduce the power or shorten the intervals. The percentage and the duration of the intervals depend on your microwave and the bowl you use. We use a microwave saucepan (£1,29 only) and it works perfectly. The material doesn’t absorb warmth, so the mixture doesn’t get extra heated when you stop the microwave. Pass through a sieve (you don’t want the zest in the curd), cool in a water bassin and store in a jar.
The curd keeps for a week in the refrigerator .

PS

Around 1992 a German television program characterised the Dutch tomatoes as watery and tasteless, and called them ‘wasserbombe’. The short-term impact was enormous: the Dutch tomato went from 50% market share in Germany to something close to zero. Longer term the impact was very different: Dutch producers invested in their product, making their tomatoes tastier, richer and more diverse.