Author Notes
Choose an olive oil that’s not too mild and buttery, yet not too robust and peppery. —Alice Medrich
Ingredients
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6
navel oranges or oranges of choice
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3 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste
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1 ounce
dark chocolate (I like 70-72% cacao), more to taste
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3/8 teaspoon
flakey sea salt or more, to taste
Directions
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Use a sharp knife to remove the peel, pith, and all of the white membrane from each orange as follows: Cut a generous slice from the end of one orange to expose a round of bare fruit about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Repeat with the other end. Set the orange, one of the cut end's down, on the cutting board. Starting at the top edge of the rind, follow the contour of the fruit as you cut downward with a very short sawing stroke to remove a wide strip of rind pith, and membrane. Continue around the fruit, removing as much membrane as possible without wasting too much fruit. Repeat with the remaining oranges, saving any juices from the cutting board.
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Slice the oranges thinly and arrange the slice, slightly overlapping, on a serving platter. Pour any collected orange juices over the slices and then drizzle with the olive oil. Using the coarse holes on your box or flat grater, grate the chocolate over the oranges and then sprinkle them with the salt. You can pass the olive oil bottle and salt—and even the chunk of chocolate and grater—around at the table, if you like. At my house, everyone likes to customize.
My career was sparked by a single bite of a chocolate truffle, made by my Paris landlady in 1972. I returned home to open this country’s first chocolate bakery and dessert shop, Cocolat, and I am often “blamed” for introducing chocolate truffles to America. Today I am the James Beard Foundation and IACP award-winning author of ten cookbooks, teach a chocolate dessert class on Craftsy.com, and work with some of the world’s best chocolate companies. In 2018, I won the IACP Award for Best Food-Focused Column (this one!).
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