Simply delicious orange and date compote recipe

Fresh, fast and tasty orange and date compote or salad

After my adventures with #HumanBrochure in Canberra and Eat Drink Blog (#EDB2012) in Adelaide, two wonderful but HUGE weekends in a row, my body is telling me 'Whoa, hold the bus Freddie!!' 

Seriously, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will have seen my Postcards and Morsels from the Human Brochure event, where we ate our way through two x six-course degustations, accompanied by wine and various other wonderful foods. 

To cap it all off, I enjoyed a delicious four-day weekend in Adelaide last weekend, attending Eat Drink Blog 2012 (watch this space for my write up and postcards, coming soon!) and eating my way around Adelaide's outstanding Central Market. Food was, of course, the focus of the weekend. By Monday morning, I was turning my nose up at the F-word (that is, F-O-O-D) in any shape or form.

At times like these, I crave light meals, sans meat of any kind...  leafy garden salads with loads of crunch, or simply fresh fruit. Hence, this lovely orange and date compote, which is adapted from recipes by Sally James and Geoff Jansz. Geoff's version uses Spanish olives, sherry and EVOO. Sally's has a significant amount of cardamom. I prefer my version which has less complex flavours.

ORANGE AND DATE COMPOTE
4 oranges, peeled and sliced, pith removed
1 tablespoon rosewater
juice of an additional orange
1 tablespoon vanilla-infused caster sugar
8 tiny fresh mint leaves
4 dates, pitted and sliced lengthways
1 tablespoon lightly toasted flaked almonds
Yoghurt to serve

Combine the rosewater, orange juice and caster sugar in a small jug, stir until the sugar dissolves. Arrange the oranges in a serving dish. Sprinkle the rosewater mixture evenly over the oranges. Cover and refrigerate. Garnish with the toasted almonds, mint leaves and dates before serving. This recipe serves 4.

Use market-fresh oranges for this recipe

The process in pictures...

A refreshing salad or compote

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Do you have a strategy for those times when you have over-eaten and are completely sick of food? What goes onto your menu in those situations?