COOKING IN/Hugo Arnold:The warm glow of citrus fruit lights up my kitchen table. Seville oranges can be fashioned into everything from real duck à l'orange - the fruit's tart bitterness far more suited to cutting the fatty richness of the duck than sweet oranges - to old-fashioned thick-cut, tangy marmalade.
These oranges - only recently harvested - hang like lamps on neatly cropped trees all over the city of Seville. A piece of the peel of this extraordinary fruit added to pretty much any stew, whether it is beef or game, will add a welcome touch of acidity.
Tired of lemon tart? Using Sevilles in place of lemons rings a welcome change. A lemon drizzle cake can become a Seville orange drizzle cake; flapjacks can be infused with zest of orange to partner dark chocolate chips, and best of all is an orange and almond cake, straight from the Mediterranean, served with a generous dollop of creme fraiche and orange syrup.
Recipes serve 4:
POT-ROASTED CHICKEN WITH ORANGE, GINGER AND SPINACH
4 chicken breasts
olive oil
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
3cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
300g spinach, stems removed
juice of two oranges
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Heat four tablespoons of olive oil in a shallow pan which is large enough to take the chicken in one layer. Add the garlic and cook over a low heat until the garlic is lightly coloured, then remove and discard it.
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper and seal it, skin-side down first, then turn it over after a few minutes and repeat on the other side. The chicken should be a golden brown colour all over.
Add the orange juice, cover it and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken and keep it warm. Add the spinach to the hot oil and allow it to wilt over a moderate heat. Add the parsley, toss so everything is amalgamated, and serve with the chicken.
WINE-POACHED WINTER FIGS WITH ORANGE AND STAR ANISE
300g dried figs
6 tbsp rum
glass red wine
100g sugar
zest of one orange
juice and zest of 2 oranges and 2 limes
3 star anise
2 vanilla pods
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
200ml lapsang tea
4 tbsp mascarpone
Combine the figs with the rum in a saucepan, stir well and set aside for a few hours stirring every now and then. Add the remaining ingredients, bring the mixture to the boil
and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the figs are soft.
Strain the liquid, return it to the pan and reduce by half. Return the liquid to the figs, allow to cool and serve with a scoop of mascarpone.
CLAUDIA RODEN'S ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE
2 oranges
6 eggs
250g caster sugar
250g blanched almonds
1 heaped tsp baking powder
Wash the oranges and place in a pan with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour and a half.
Beat the eggs with the sugar until they are pale. Add the almonds and baking powder, and mix well.
Cut open the oranges and remove the pips. Blitz them in a food processor, making sure the skin is well broken up. Stir the fruit into the almond mixture and pour it into a 23-centimetre loose-bottomed cake tin, which has been greased and dusted with four.
Bake in a preheated oven, 190 degrees/gas five, for an hour. Allow the cake to cool then turn it out on to a wire tray and dust with icing sugar.