7 Days of Oranges - Day 6

Orange Gremolata

I am almost done with my 7 Days of Oranges mission. Are you tired of reading recipe after recipe about oranges? I have to be honest I'm glad my mission is almost complete. Don't get me wrong I love oranges and I thoroughly enjoyed cooking with them but one full week of oranges is a bit much! But hey what's a girl like me to do when her husband brings home 15 pounds of oranges? Turn oranges into orangade! I know not funny. I'm looking forward to cooking something without oranges. So next week you will not read about me cooking with oranges but rather with chocolate. Yes chocolate and 21 pounds of it my friends! This is not a typo or a crazy error with auto correct, this is the real deal. 21 pounds of Giardelli Chocolate was delivered to my office at work. So what's a girl like me to do when she is delivered 21 pounds of chocolate? Turn chocolate into chocolatade! I know not funny again. So just a few more days of oranges and I promise you a decadent chocolate recipe to follow, maybe even two. 

Ok, now on to day 6, my main course. Tonight I was in the mood for a steak. A thick slightly crisp on the outside, moist and tender slightly pink on the inside ribeye steak. I say slightly pink because lately I prefer my steaks cooked medium rare-medium. Dave is appalled that I like mine cooked more medium and he is even more appalled when I ask him to put mine back on the grill to cook more. He says he prefers his steaks cooked medium-rare but I say he leans more to the rare side. It's a debate we've been having for a while now.  On a few occasions our debates have gotten quite heated but mostly they are all in good fun. I try not to complain too much because I worry he may protest and not cook steaks anymore. That would be really bad because Dave is the master at grilling steaks. He concocts his own rubs that he puts on the steaks and they are to die for. He changes the rub from time to time and every time it's restaurant quality if not better. Sometimes it's just a heavy dose of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and it's still the most amazing flavor. I told him that as amazing as his rubs are I was going to change things up due to my 7 Days of Oranges. I told him to simply salt and pepper the steaks and that I had made Orange Gremolata to go on top of the steak. If you are not familiar, gremolata is a condiment of freshly chopped parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. There are variations but that is the traditional mix. It's typically used as a topper on braised beef or veal. I decided to change it up and use orange zest instead of lemon zest. He was open to the Orange Gremolata but I could tell he was apprehensive. Actually I was too but I figured if it didn't taste good with the steak it was only a topper and could be taken off. So he went in the backyard, brushed the snow off of the grill and cooked the steaks. Medium for me and rare medium-rare for him. We love gorgonzola with our steaks so we topped each steak with some and then sprinkled some orange gremolata on top too. WOW, was it amazing! The orange gremolata was so delicious with the steak and gorgonzola and the flavors were magical.  Steaks alone can taste heavy but the orange gremolata really lighten the taste. We were both surprised how incredible it tasted. As much as I'm looking forward to not cooking with oranges anymore, I am glad I did this mission. It has allowed me to open up and try new recipes and many will become recipes I make over and over, like this one. So if you are looking to lighten and refresh a meat dish Orange Gremolata is the way to go. Salute to 7 days of Oranges and 1 day to go!

Orange Gremolata with Ribeye Steaks and Gorgonzola Cheese

Gremolata - what a great way to lighten up a steak.

Orange Gremolata (Click to print recipe)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yeilds: 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

• 4 tb freshly chopped parsley
• 2 tb orange zest
• 1 tb orange juice
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• salt n pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon until well mixed. Use as a topper on meats, pork or seafood.

Food Impressions:

Dave: Surprisingly delicious. The orange zest compliments the gorgonzola well. And of course anything with fresh minced garlic is sublime.

Andrea: Loved the orange gremolata. I typically make the lemon zest gremolata but I will make it with orange zest from time to time. I will try it with shrimp next.