I love a dessert with 3 ingredients. I also love a fruit dessert that doesn’t taste like a sacrifice. This is a good example of the things that make me happy.
Oranges (As many people as you need to serve. 3 for four people, 8 for a potluck )
2 tbsp rum
1/2 cup sugar
Zest an orange and slice the long pieces into thin, thin slivers.
Remove the peel and white membrane from the oranges and segment the fruit. This takes some time but is necessary so the rum can soak into the fruit itself and not get stopped by the skin of each segment like an alcohol barrier. All the rum should soak into the (blood) orange stream. Place the orange segments in a bowl and drizzle with the rum (more or less, to taste).
Heat the sugar with 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Wipe down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush, but don’t stir. Let it cook for 5-8 minutes, to the point where you can take a little of the liquid on a spoon and drop it onto a plate and it should seem thick and syrupy. It should also be changing colour around the edge of the pan. At this point you want to swirl the pan, not stir it, and let the colour spread throughout the liquid. Less cooking time here is better than more, because if the caramel over-darkens it will become bitter. I actually used xylitol, a sugar substitute, which didn’t darken to a caramel colour because it’s not sugar…but it did thicken a little, thank goodness and it didn’t get bitter. The dish still tasted amazing even if it wasn’t really caramel.
Pour it immediately over the oranges and rum. Serve hot, or refrigerate to let the alcohol and syrup infiltrate the fruit…mmm…macerated fruit.
Serve in a prettier glass than I did…like champagne flutes, martini glasses or small wine glasses.
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