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This is not a regular orange, you can't eat it because it's a bitter orange... and I don't mean not very sweet, but really, really bitter.

They're not easy to find at the store, but are widely cultivated:
1) for the essential oil, the aromatic zest and orange water distilled from the flowers
2) as a grafting stock for citrus trees: do you have a lemon tree? Its root may be a bitter orange plant
3) in Sicily they are used as ornamental plants in many streets and squares. Why bitter oranges? Sadly, I guess that's because edible fruits will be stolen.

In my garden there's a small bitter orange tree: I could turn it in an plant with edible fruits, but I choose to keep it this way, as an ornamental plant and to harvest fruits and flowers.

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So, I was on my way home thinking of how to cook some smoked salmon, and I remember my bitter orange tree.
We enjoyed this pasta, I think I will cook it again and again.

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Use a regular orange if you can't find a bitter one.



Orange Pasta with Smoked Salmon

Ingredients
Serves two:
160g trofiette pasta
120g smoked salmon
200ml single cream
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp butter
6-7 cm orange zest
2 tbsp bitter orange juice
chives

Directions
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.
Meanwhile fry the minced garlic with butter for one minute. Add the single cream, the minced orange zest and the orange juice and let thicken for a couple of minutes.
Remove from heat and add the smoked salmon cut into stripes.
Drain the pasta well, season with the salmon sauce and garnish with orange zest and minced chives.

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I am entering this in Presto Pasta Nights, an event hosted by its foundress, Ruth of Once Upon A Feast.

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