Sometimes in life we happen upon little nuggets of wonderfulness. Call it serendipity or call it luck, or maybe chance. I call it a gift. In the most unexpected places, without even looking for anything significant, life can give us things that hit us square in the face and make us say, “I’ve learned something new today.” I had that kind of moment in a little Chinese restaurant near my parent’s home. I was not expecting anything brilliant, I was not even expecting good food, but in the end they served us an orange half in a little bowl with our fortune cookies. I had never seen citrus fruits served in this fashion and of course had to dissect the creature right away to see how it was done. It was gorgeous and I can see platters of Citrus Boats adorning all of my future brunch buffets.
Using a very sharp knife cut a clean citrus fruit of your choice in half.
Cut a small wedge off the bottom of each half as in the picture above.
Using a sharp paring knife cut the fruit away from the peel and set aside.
Place the bottom back into the ring of peel you had just cut. It will fit tightly down in there and act as a base and lift your fruit.
Place the little bowl made with the peel into a pretty dish or on a platter covered with lettuce leaves- the flat bottoms prevent wobbling. Carefully separate the citrus fruit’s segments and place back into the peel. Top with a cherry or any other attractive berry. Serve with decorative picks or small spoons. This clever presentation completely trumps its tedium.
Note- You may want to use a cutting board with a “gutter” to catch all those wonderful juices to pour into a glass for later. No waste.
Robin Sue
17 Comments
This would be perfect on a brunch buffet. Very nice idea.
Great idea. But now I want to go out for Chinese food!
These are so cute! definitely perfect for a brunch buffet.
So pretty and a real tribute to hospitality!
Chinese are so creative and artistic. This is a great presentation and would make a lunch day treat! (Sorry, I am in complete school mode hear.)
well, this has been a fine course in fruit serving! grace's previous method: wash fruit. place fruit in bowl. announce presence of fruit in bowl.
Love the idea…so creative…makes the orange taste nicer
I am the WORST orange cutter in the world so we stick with "smiles" or peeled orange wedges.
Your photos are so beautiful! What a lovely presentation.
How pretty! Sure beats just peeling an orange and popping the sections into your mouth. This makes eating an orange an event!
Love this idea!
So pretty and clever! I will be trying this!
I have some awards waiting for you over at my blog
So pretty! Thanks for the tip!
Brilliant! Don't you love it when you learn new tricks. I just blogged about a new way to make a salad.
That is awful pretty but does seem like a lot of work….I'm kinda lazy.
~ingrid
hey, really cool – thanks for sharing that technique. In fact, now that I think of it, Asian dishes are generally creatively garnished.
Another wonderful idea – thanks for sharing Robin Sue!
I still need to get that name of the Chinese buffet in Roanoke my family raves about!
Was that they place up by the bridge? I forget the name… Chopsticks or something.