Shaman

I dream of Cointreau

Cindy suggested Cointreau as this week’s spirit as part of the “spirits of esctsasy” series that we are collaborating on. Cointreau is a triple sec liqueur made from orange peels. So it was natural that I wanted to work with oranges as I came up with the recipe. I also kept in mind that that simplicity was more important that culinary sophistication. My previous recipes with Frangelico taught me that. The zen like simplicity of the drunken rice noodles could not be matched by the chocolate frangelico cake recipe. I decided to continue with the same approach for Cointreau: a simple recipe, with readymade and easy to find ingredients, and no fancy cooking techniques. And that’s how I had Cointreau dreams.

Ingredients

• Seven to eight segments of mandarin orange
• One slice of angel food cake
• Two tablespoons of cream
• Cointreau
• A fresh orange peel, cut into small pieces
• A fresh orange slice

Soak the mandarin orange segments in cointreau overnight in a closed container in a refrigerator.

Add a tablespoon of cointreau to two tablespoons of fresh cream. Grate some fresh orange zest on the cream. Gently froth the cream using a hand blender for about five minutes, or till the cream becomes fluffy. Keep aside.

Take a half inch slice of angel food cake and cut it into a round shape. The diameter of the cut slice should be such that it wedges itself in the middle of a pilsner glass. See the picture. You can use the lid from a glass container as a cookie cutter.

In a pilsner glass, add the soaked mandarin segments along with the cointreau marinade. Sprinkle some cointreau on the round angel food slice and gently slip it on top of the mandarin orange segments. Add the whipped cream on top of the slice. Garnish the cream with the fresh orange peel pieces. Add the orange slice. Serve chilled.

If you want a vegan option, substitute the cream with soy cream.