Some smells in the kitchen are magical. One of these smells for me is orange blossom water.

We use it in cooking to perfume cakes and pancakes. I associate this smell with orange salad from North Africa.

My best memory of orange salad is the one I had 10 years ago in a Moroccan restaurant in Paris “the 404”. Imagine how huge the memory of a gourmet is !

Restaurant 404
69 rue des Gravillers
Paris 03
Tel : 01 42 74 57 81
Metro Arts et métiers

This North African restaurant has been in Paris for ages. The owner is Mourad Mazouz (Momo) and he opened a fashionable restaurant in London called Momo’s a couple of years ago

Momo’s
25-27 Hedden street
London, W1B 4BH
Tube station : Picadilly Circus

His cook book, La Cuisine de Momo : Couscous, tajines… de Mourad Mazouz is the next cook book on my list

My orange salad

I chose to use pistachios and pine nuts as a decoration and to give a crunchy texture to the salad which I really like.
You can also add fresh mint, dates etc.

For 2 people

3 oranges (the best you can find which means only in winter in France)
half a handful of unsalted pistachios
half a handful of pine nuts
sugar
Cinnamon
Orange blossom water

Crush the pistachios with a pestle and mortar.
Cut the peel and pith from the oranges so that you don’t have any of the white skin left.
Slice the oranges into very thin slices (I must admit that it’s not too easy… in fact, I really use 4 oranges and then choose the best looking slices to have an equivalent of 3 oranges).
Arrange the oranges slices in overlapping circles on two plates.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon according to your taste (I use half a teaspoon of sugar and 3 pinches of cinnamon per plate).
Pour 1 tsp of orange blossom water on each plate of oranges.
Sprinkle with the crushed pistachios and the pine nuts.
Leave the plates covered with cling film in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Enjoy !

You can even prepare this the evening for the following day and have them for breakfast. Imagine the treat !

I buy unsalted pistachios in G.Detou

G.Detou
58 rue Tquetonne
75002 Paris
Tel : 01 42 36 54 67
Metro : Etienne-Marcel or Les Halles.