Gael Greene’s Morning After Orange Fruit Soup – #46 on Gourmet’s 50 Women Game Changers in Food

Gael Greene's Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

Gael Greene’s Morning After Orange fruit soup – an interesting combination of frozen orange juice concentrate, quick cooking tapioca, and sugar, combined with fresh fruit – makes for a refreshing and delicious way to begin the day.

We enjoyed this orange fruit soup for breakfast this morning and look forward to having it again. It’s a perfect light and healthy breakfast option here in Phoenix, where the temperatures are sky high a good part of the year.

I have #46 on Gourmet’s List of 50 Women Game Changers in Food, American restaurant critic, author and novelist,  Gael Greene to thank for this unusual recipe. I’m quite sure I never would have discovered it, it  it weren’t for my participation with a group of food bloggers, led by Mary from One Perfect Bite, who have been cooking their way through the Gourmet list since last spring.

Who is Gael Greene you ask? (I had no idea and had to look her up. Do you ever wonder how you survived before Google and Wikipedia? I do.)

It turns out that Gael Greene was the Insatiable Critic for New York magazine for 40 years, where she helped change the way New Yorkers think about food. She became the magazine’s restaurant critic in the fall of 1968, when most New Yorkers were unsophisticated about food and celebrity chefs were virtually nonexistent.  According to Wikipedia, “She was a passionate early “foodie” before that word was used. Indeed, the American edition of The Foodie Handbook credited her with first using the word.”

You can read some of her fun reviews here on her blog: Insatiable-Critic.

Greene is also the author of two best selling novels and a memoir: Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess.

In 1981 she co-founded Citymeals-on-Wheels, along with teacher and food writer James Beard, to help fund weekend and holiday meals for homebound elderly people in New York City. She remains an active chair of the company’s board, hosting an annual Power Lunch for Women.

Gael explains in the headnote for this recipe on her website, “I don’t remember where I got the recipe for this refreshing and delicious fruit soup – always a waker-upper at my brunches for friends. If I stole it from you, please forgive me.”

Bowl of Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

I made the orange juice and tapioca mixture before bed last night and then popped it into the fridge. This morning, when I went to stir in the fruit, I thought it seemed a little too gelatinous and stirred in about 1/2 cup orange juice to loosen it up.

Morning After Orange Fruit Soup Ingredients

Each serving has about 137 calories and 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus. Enjoy!

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Gael Greene’s Morning After Orange Fruit Soup Recipe

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

An interesting concoction of orange juice concentrate, tapioca and sugar mixed with chopped fresh fruit for a refreshing delicious fruit soup

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup frozen concentrated orange juice
• 2 cups fruit (chopped fruit of your choice*)

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, mix together the instant tapioca and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil.
2. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the sugar, salt, and orange juice concentrate, until well blended. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes, then stir it again. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.
3. Just before serving, fold in the fruit.
4. Serve in chilled bowls or balloon goblets.

Notes

Nutritional Estimates Per Serving (1/4): 137 calories, 0.3 g fat, 33.5 g carbs, 2.5 g fiber, 1.7 g protein and 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus value *In winter, you can use orange sections with the membrane cut away, sliced bananas, half grapes (seeded), frozen and thawed peach slices, and the best berries you can find. In summer, you can choose a mix of sweet and tart summer fruit—plums, peaches, nectarines, and, most especially, berries. Don’t forget the banana. When I made it the first time I used a combination of defrosted mixed frozen berries, strawberries and bananas. I made the juice/tapioca mixture before bed and stirred in the fruit in the morning. I thought the mixture was a bit too gelatinous, so added about ½ cup more orange juice to loosen it up.

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If you liked this post about Gael Greene’s morning after fruit soup, check out these links:

• A 2008 NY Times article about Gael Greene just after she was dismissed from New York magazine
• New York magazine’s archive of articles by Gael Greene
• Gael’s blog, Insatiable Critic.com