Three ways with a lemon, tangelo or blood orange
1. Citrus crisps
These oven-dried wafers of citrus are a handy embellishment,
looking particularly stunning on a Lemon buttermilk chiffon
cake (page 181). I r iff on the beef carpaccio trick I learnt in my
apprentice days of almost fully freezing the ingredient I need
to slice ultra-thinly. Apply this method to the gentle citrus–
limes, oranges (bloods have an incredible cross-section) and
mandarins, but not so much Seville oranges or grapefruit,
which are a bit too bitter for this unsweetened treatment.

Halve your citrus across the middle and place in the freezer,
uncovered, for around 3–4 hours.

When you are ready to slice, heat the oven as low as it will go – around
60°C (140°F). Line a shallow baking tray with a spray of cooking oil
then a sheet of baking paper and a final spray of cooking oil so the
crisps can peel away easily.

If your oven doesn’t go low enough, you may need to give it bursts of heat
so your crisps remain coloured–no brown. Heat to the lowest temperature,
put the crisps in, turn the oven off and leave for 30 minutes. Re-heat the
oven and repeat this process.

Take the par-frozen citrus and place on a clean tea towel (dish towel)
so it doesn’t slip as you slice. Cut paper-thin slices with a fine, sharp
serrated knife (or use a mandolin, but take extra care). Unfurl the
slices on the lined tray and dry in the oven for 3–4 hours. Leave to
keep crisping in the turned-off oven.

Store between sheets of baking paper in an airtight container.

Keeps Up to 3 weeks. If they soften,
re-crisp at 60°C (140°F).

Makes 40+ slices of citrus,
depending on size.

Takes 10 minutes hands-on, 6 hours
to freeze and 3–4 hours to crisp.
1 medium lemon or orange