Loving the abundance of citrus at this time of year, with so many options for recipes - both sweet & savoury. Last weekend’s brunch is one of my favourites recipe for combining a few different citrus flavours together. You don’t have to stick with orange, grapefruit, and mandarin, but mix it up with what ever is available. I’ve also used blood oranges, limes, tangelos and cumquats in this recipe. But just make sure the syrup balances out the tartness of the citrus.

There’s only ever clean plates after serving this dish to the hungry hordes, so you can’t go wrong!

Enjoy!

CITRUS WAFFLES WITH HONEY LABNE & CITRUS SALAD

Recipe by Emma Knowles - Gourmet Traveller Magazine

INGREDIENTS

Honey Labne

500 gm thick natural yoghurt

100 gm honey

Citrus Waffles
10 gm (1 tbsp) dried yeast
125 gm butter, diced
450 ml milk
450 gm (3 c) plain flour
80 gm caster sugar
finely grated rind of 1 orange, 1 lemon & ½ ruby grapefruit

pinch salt
50 ml orange juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking powder

Citrus Salad
250 gm caster sugar
125 ml (½ c) orange juice
thinly peeled rind of 2 oranges
200ml water
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp orange-blossom water, or to taste
2 oranges & 1 ruby grapefruit, peeled & segmented
2 mandarins, peeled & thickly sliced

To Serve
mint leaves
pistachios
honey

METHOD

Honey Labne
Stir the yoghurt and honey in a bowl to combine, transfer to a muslin-lined sieve, place over a bowl and refrigerate to drain overnight (discard liquid). Honey labne will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Citrus Waffles
Stir the yeast and 125ml lukewarm water in a bowl until yeast dissolves. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the milk and warm gently until lukewarm. Remove from the heat and add to yeast mixture. Combine the flour, sugar, citrus rinds and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Make a well in the center, add the milk yeast mixture, then the orange juice, and mix to form a rough dough. Cover with plastic wrap and stand until doubled in size (1½ - 2 hours).

Beat in the eggs and baking powder until well incorporated. Cook the waffles in a heated waffle iron until golden and crisp (4 - 5 mins). You'll need to spread the batter in the iron and it will puff up as it cooks). Keep warm in a low oven till ready to serve.

Citrus Salad
Stir the sugar, orange juice, rind and 200 ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer, and cook until lightly syrupy and rinds are translucent (10 - 15 mins).

Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and orange-blossom water and cool to room temperature. Just before serving, pour syrup onto the citrus segments and mandarin slices.

To Serve
Serve waffles warm, topped with citrus salad, honey labne, and finished with mint leaves, pistachios, and a drizzle of honey.

Serves 4 - 6