Orange You Glad You Stopped By?

I've been away from Philly Makes! for most of the summer, but if you recall my previous posts you’ll remember I love gardening. For my houseplants I’m partial to exotic flowers and succulents, outside I like to grow edibles. In my tiny yard I have an assortment of heirloom tomatoes and vegetables, over thirty herbs, figs, grapes and calamondins, a variety of miniature oranges that are similar to kumquats. The fruits are small, around the size of a ping-pong ball, and have a sweet rind with a sour inside.

I’ve had the calamondin tree shown in the photo at right for over ten years; it’s almost four feet tall and lives in the yard from April through October, then comes inside for the winter. It produces gloriously scented blossoms and fruit year-round, although every few years it takes a rest.

I made the tart in the photo above using this recipe from Epicurious.com. The top is covered with candied calamondins and the filling is made with ricotta, sour cream and toasted fennel. It was my first time making this recipe so I followed it exactly and used sugar, but next time I’ll make it my way and substitute honey or agave. I served it chilled and garnished with leaves from my tree and of course a pun: “Orange you glad you stopped by?”.