Marmalade is sunshine in a jar — and in your cooking
By Melissa Clark, The New York Times
With so little seasonal produce to work with in late winter, the sunshine hues of ephemeral citrus like bergamots, kumquats and Seville oranges can inspire a particular joy.
Now is the time for marmalade makers to start the dayslong project of shredding, soaking and simmering the fruit until it emerges golden and syrupy, full of candied peel suspended in a jelly that’s, as the inveterate marmalade-eater Nigel Slater writes, “quivering, but not so loosely set that it drips down the sleeves of my dressing gown.” It’s jam that won’t mess up your jammies.
For cooks whose marmalade aspirations are more immediate, the time is also ripe for cooking with the jarred stuff, letting its bittersweet brightness chase the grayness of winter away.
Sara Cann, an owner of Birdie’s Batch, a confectionary company in West Nyack, New York, known for its creative marmalade flavors, suggests using it in a range of dishes: paired with Brie on crackers, mixed with mustard as a glaze for salmon or stirred into tea in place of honey and lemon.
“You have the sweet, you have the bitter from the rinds, you have acidity,” she said. “Marmalade can add a lot of complexity all by itself.”
I’m especially taken with her idea to turn marmalade into instant lemonade by heating it with water until it’s syrupy, then mixing it with seltzer (or more water) and ice. She uses her company’s monarch marmalade made from Meyer lemons, ginger and gin for this libation, but any lemon-based product will work — especially if you spike it with a drop of gin.
I used lemon marmalade to create a glossy coating for chicken and sweet potatoes, adding pungent fish sauce and salty soy sauce to balance the sweetness, along with garlic and crushed red pepper for sharpness and heat. But for this dish, an orange marmalade will work just as well.
Marmalade is very traditional, of course, in and on baked goods — cakes, scones, puddings. To this roster I’ve added chewy oatmeal cookies, substituting marmalade for the usual golden syrup or molasses. Here, the key is to use a thick marmalade with plenty of peel, which creates fruity pockets, a bit like tangy raisins.
I also made some whole-wheat carrot muffins scented with cardamom, spooning marmalade into their centers before baking. The marmalade stays slightly sticky in the cakey muffin hearts, lending a lively citrus flavor to your breakfast, without dripping onto your jammies, or your dressing gown.
RECIPES
Spicy Marmalade Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
The citrusy, sweet-and-sour sauce in this sheet-pan recipe gets caramelized by the oven’s high heat, coating chicken thighs and cubed sweet potatoes with a delightfully sticky glaze. You can use any kind of marmalade here — orange, lemon, grapefruit — or use a mixed-peel marmalade for the most complex flavor. The combination of fish sauce, soy sauce and garlic lends pungent, salty flavors that round out the sweetness of the marmalade, while crushed red pepper adds heat.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup marmalade, large peels chopped
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce, coconut amino acids or Yondu
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (see tip)
- Salt
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
- 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (you don’t have to peel them), cut into 3/4-inch-thick pieces
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lime, plus lime wedges for serving
Preparation
1. In a large bowl, whisk together marmalade, scallion whites, fish sauce, soy sauce and crushed red pepper.
2. Season chicken lightly with salt. Rub garlic all over the pieces and under the skin and add to the bowl, turning to coat them with the marinade. Let marinate while you prepare the potatoes (up to 30 minutes at room temperature or up to eight hours in the refrigerator).
3. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. If you like, you can line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil for easy cleanup. The marmalade will probably scorch a little at the pan edges.
4. Put the sweet potatoes on the sheet pan and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Spread potatoes out in one layer and place in the oven. Roast for 10 minutes.
5. To the bowl with the chicken add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Grate the zest of the lime into the bowl, then halve the lime and squeeze one half of it in as well (save the remaining half for serving). Toss well.
6. Add chicken skin side up to the sheet pan, nestled among the sweet potatoes (but not on top of them; make sure the chicken is touching the pan). Spoon any extra sauce over everything. Roast, tossing the sweet potatoes once or twice, until chicken is cooked through and caramelized and the sweet potatoes are soft, 25 to 35 minutes longer. Taste and add more salt and lime juice if needed.
7. Top with scallions greens and serve.
Tip
Feel free to substitute skinless, boneless chicken thighs if you prefer; you’ll need 1 3/4 to 2 pounds.
Chewy Marmalade Oatmeal Cookies
Quickly stirred together in one bowl without an electric mixer, these oat-filled cookies are easy to bake anytime you’re craving a treat. The secret to their chewy texture is to pull them from the oven as soon as the edges turn golden but while the centers are still very soft. They will firm up as they cool. But don’t worry if you overbake them slightly — they are just as good when crunchy. For the best flavor, use a thick marmalade with plenty of peel, in any variety you like. These cookies keep well for at least a week stored airtight at room temperature.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 2 dozen
Total time: 25 minutes, plus cooling
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup/95 grams marmalade, any large pieces of peel chopped
- 1/2 cup (1 stick)/113 grams unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 packed cup/110 grams light or dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 1 cup/125 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups/120 grams rolled oats
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together marmalade, butter, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until the marmalade is smooth.
3. Using a flexible spatula, stir in the flour and oats, mixing until the flour is well incorporated and there are no more streaks of white. It will be a thick batter.
4. Place heaping tablespoonfuls of the batter onto the baking sheets, spacing them evenly apart. Bake until the cookies are golden at the edges but still soft in the center, 9 to 13 minutes. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool.
Carrot Muffins With Marmalade
These tender muffins are like mini, not-too-sweet carrot cakes, with a dollop of marmalade tucked into the center of each one. They’re adaptable too. Play around with the spices, the marmalade flavors, even the carrot is negotiable — shredded butternut squash or apple will work just as well. They’re best served a day or two after baking, but leftover muffins freeze well for up to six months.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 12 muffins
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- Cooking spray or butter
- 1 1/4 cups/155 grams whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup/45 grams old-fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or cinnamon or ginger)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 1/2 cup/120 grams plain whole-milk yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado, or melted butter
- 1/2 packed cup/110 grams light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange or lemon zest
- 1 packed cup/110 grams finely grated carrot (from 2 medium carrots)
- 1/4 cup marmalade
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or generously grease (with nonstick cooking spray or butter).
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt, eggs, ½ cup oil, sugar and zest until just smooth. Whisk in carrots.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir with a flexible spatula just until no streaks of flour remain. Divide about two-thirds of the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Top each with a heaping teaspoon of marmalade, then cover the marmalade with remaining batter.
4. Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until the muffins spring back when lightly pressed, 13 to 18 minutes longer (a tester may emerge with crumbs attached, but there shouldn’t be any raw batter clinging).
5. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold and serve warm or cool completely.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.