Candied Orange Peel robed in bitter Chocolate.
Main Ingredients:
4 oranges
6 Litres of boiling water, used in three stages of 2 litre each
1litre cold water
1.25 kg caster sugar
300 g cooking chocolate
120g un-sweetened cocoa powder
Peeling the oranges
With the small sharp knife slice both ends off the oranges so you can sit them comfortably on the work top. Then, cut the skin from top to bottom in strips 3cm ( 1 inch ) wide taking great care that no white pith comes away with the orange peel.. Cut the peel strips into diamonds of roughly the same size – about 3cm ( 1 inch ) or 4 cm ( 1 ½ inches ) across.
( I find it easier to use a vegetable peeler and have the shapes a little more rustic.)
Note: use oranges after removing peel for Oranges in syrup, or the peeled oranges can be used for some other purpose – juice, for instance, or in a fruit salad.
Crystallizing the orange peel
1/-Put 2 litre of water to boil in a saucepan, then plunge in the orange –peel squares for 3 minutes. Refresh them in cold water, and repeat twice more, using fresh water each time. ( This is to remove as much bitterness as possible from the peel .) Drain the peel in a colander.
2/-Empty and rinse the sauce pan and put in the 1 litre of cold water and the sugar. Bring to boil, stirring the constantly with a fork to dissolve the sugar and add the drained orange peel. Cook for 3 hours on a low heat; the surface of the liquid should be barely shivering.
3/-Take out the orange peel squares with a skimmer and lay them on a wire rack to drain off excess syrup. Let them dry out in the air for 3 hours.
Coating the orange peel
1/-Cut the chocolate into small pieces with a sharp knife. Let it melt slowly in a second saucepan standing in a bain–marie at about 30 o C / 85 o F stirring continually with a wooden spatula to make it really smooth.
2/-Lift up the squares of candied orange peel one at a time on a fork, without piercing them, and dip them in the melted chocolate.
3/-Put the coated squares on the cake rake to allow the chocolate to set a little, and then after a few minutes, roll them thoroughly in the plateful of cocoa powder so they are completely coated with it. Let them cool in the cocoa and pick them out with your fingers, shaking each piece gently to dust off any excess cocoa.
Pile them in a crown on a plate covered with a white paper doily, and offer as an elegant accompaniment to coffee at the end of a meal.
Suggestions to the home cook
You can perfectly prepare these sweets in advance, and store them for a week in the refrigerator, completely buried in cocoa powder. (we have kept them a lot longer). Being cool gives them that crumble feel in the mouth.