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When they are in season, I like to use ruby-tinged blood oranges for this, but you can use any oranges with a good flavour. Orange flower water is a by-product of the distillation of fresh orange blossom for its essential oil.
Used for many years in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, just a few intense drops add an exotic, almost otherworldly taste and aroma. This makes more honeycomb than you need here, but it will keep for a few days and is great added to any dessert to give it a sweet-caramel crunch, or eaten as a snack.
Serves 4
4 small oranges, such as blood oranges, or 2 large navel oranges
200g (1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar, plus extra for dusting
150g (3⁄4 cup) thick Greek yogurt
1 tsp orange flower water
For the honeycomb
100g (1⁄2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
35g (4 tsp) liquid glucose
20g (3 tsp) honey
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
First make the honeycomb. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Place the sugar, glucose, honey and a tablespoon of water in a medium-sized saucepan and cook over high heat on the stovetop until the mixture turns golden brown.
Immediately add the bicarbonate of soda and give it three sharp whisks
– the honeycomb will rapidly expand and rise up like an erupting volcano. When this happens, give it another quick whisk then remove the pan from the heat and pour the frothing honeycomb onto the prepared sheet. Leave to settle and cool completely. The honeycomb will keep for up to a week in an airtight container (but don’t put it in the fridge, or it will lose its crunch).
Light the barbecue and set for direct cooking.
Slice the top and bottom off each orange, then sit it on a chopping board. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully cut away all the skin and pith from the oranges, then slice each one into 4 even rounds.
Dust with sugar, then place on the grill and cook for 3 minutes either side until charred and tender.
Meanwhile, place the sugar and 200ml (generous 3⁄4 cup) of water in a large non-stick frying pan. Heat on the barbecue, without stirring, until you have a deep-brown caramel.
Carefully transfer the oranges to the pan and move it to the edge of the barbecue to cook slowly for 5 minutes or until the oranges are syrupy, soft and delicious. Remove from the heat but leave the oranges to cool in the syrup.
Whisk the yogurt with the orange flower water and serve with the oranges. Drizzle with some of the syrup and strew some chunks of honeycomb over the top.
Caramelized oranges with orange flower yogurt and honeycomb