Iron Chef Dinner Club – Citrus Challenge

Iron Chef Dinner Club* III kicked off, as usual, with a meeting at the Chagrin Falls Eagles club to reveal the secret ingredient. Once again, Ron Kooser stepped up to be our Chairman and chose the secret ingredient. He along with his wife, Linda, and friends Kent and Olivia, would act as the judges. We also had a surprise guest judge: Danny Binder, son of participants Jack and Mary Kay Binder, who was home visiting from Washington & Lee University.

With citrus being revealed as the secret ingredient, each team drew  a course, and a number which corresponded to the order in which a fruit would be chosen from the available selections. Selections from which to choose were grapefruit, Minneola tangelo, lime, lemon, key lime, Mandarin orange, and blood orange. The Minneola was unusual, so that’s what I chose when it was my turn to pick.

It Takes Two to Tangelo

According to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension at the University of Florida, the Minneola tangelo is “a Duncan grapefruit x Dancy tangerine hybrid released in 1931 by the United States Department of Agriculture Horticultural Research Station in Orlando. This tangelo (like other tangelo cultivars) is therefore 1/2 tangerine and 1/2 grapefruit. The fruit is quite handsome and a genuine pleasure to eat.” After tasting one I have to agree.

The Minneola tangelo typically has a stem-end neck which protrudes to make the fruit pear or bell-shaped. A Duncan grapefruit/Dancy tangerine hybrid is marketed as the Honeybell and is highly sought after as a mail or online-order gift fruit. Look for Minneolas in your local market instead from December through February. They’re nicely orange in color and about 3 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter. I picked up some at Heinen’s. They were 3 for $2.00.

Creative Juices

For my appetizer I wanted to make something somewhat unique that would travel easily and not require any extensive prep immediately before serving. After researching many different recipes I decided to take ideas and ingredients from several and came up with modifications to include the Minneola. I ended up with Pineapple Minneola Meatballs.

I was cooking for 17 people, so I scaled the recipe to make about 72 meatballs. Divide quantities in half for a single batch:

Combine all meatball ingredients and mix well. It’s meatballs, so get in there with your hands and mix it up well. Shape into 1-inch meatballs (I used a disher to make sure mine were uniform in size) and pan fry in a little Canola oil, turning frequently until browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. I did mine in my Calphalon 12-inch Everyday Pan in batches of about 20. Leave enough room so the meatballs fry properly. Too many in the pan and they will cook from the steam and will not brown properly. Remove to a mixing bowl when finished and drain the excess fat from the pan.  For the sauce, add the onions and cook for about a minute until they release some flavor and just begin to soften. Stir in the remaining sauce ingredients and cover and cook over medium low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring gently to deglaze the pan. Remove the cover and simmer until thickened to the desired consistency. To serve, place  a little sauce on a plate, top with 3-4 meatballs, top that with a little more sauce, garnish with a Minneola supreme and some chopped green onions.

Pineapple Sauce and the Supremes

Cutting any sectioned fruit into supremes is easy with a thin, sharp knife. Simply cut off the ends, then slice down each side to remove the skin and pith. Then slice along each section membrane to remove the sections of the fruit. Minneolas contain some seeds, so be sure to remove them, too. I was surprised at how juicy and sweet the Minneolas were. I cut mine over a small bowl to catch the juice and ended up with almost 1/2cup per Minneola. All that succulent juice reduced down nicely to form a delicious fruit sauce.

In hindsight I would have plated a little differently and perhaps added a little more to the dish; maybe some candied Minneola zest as a garnish or some tarragon or cilantro as a accent. But overall, the meatballs were very tasty and I was pretty happy with my dish, especially since I’d never made it before.

Here’s the complete list of all the dishes prepared using the secret ingredient:

• Lime Shrimp Ceviche
• Pineapple Minneola Meatballs
• Salad with Pecans and Mandarin Orange Dressing
• Salad with Walnuts and  Cranberry Grapefruit Dressing
• Spiced Mahi Mahi with Cous Cous and Blood Orange Salsa
• Key Lime Cake with White Chocolate Frosting
• Lemon Angel Food Cake with Lemon Custard Filling

All were terrific, as was the Chairman’s beverage of the evening, Citrus Surprise. I don’t know what was in it. All I know is that if you weren’t careful, it snuck up on you in a hurry with a surprising kick!

I’m always impressed with the culinary skill and creativity displayed by our dinner club members. Even though we all enjoy a little competition, everyone appreciates tasting something new and exchanging ideas. In researching recipes for ideas, I not only learned about a new ingredient, I found at least three citrus dishes that I want to try as a result of this challenge: a fiesta citrus soup, Asian crab cakes with citrus wasabi mayonnaise, and citrus bruschetta. For me, that’s part of the fun of trying something new in the kitchen.

For our next Iron Chef Dinner Club, we discussed having everyone prepare the same course, probably appetizers, since that will make it easier for the judges to compare each dish throughout the meal. An evening of tapas-like food sounds good to me!

It was a fun evening, and this much I know for sure: I definitely got my vitamin C allocation for the day!

*About once a year, our dinner club prepares an Iron Chef-like meal with a secret ingredient. Each dinner club team draws a course and must prepare it using the secret ingredient. Taste, creativity, and presentation are all judged.  Our Chairman provides an adult beverage based on the secret ingredient for all to share. Of course, everyone wins, because, after all, we all get to eat a great meal!

Tagged as: blood orange, ceviche, citrus, grapefruit, green onion, Iron Chef, key lime, lime, mahi mahi, mandarin orange, meatballs, Minneola tangelo, pineapple, Salad, white chocolate