The short, sharp Seville orange season is upon us once again. While 90% of this delicious bitter orange crop is destined for thejar and morning toast following the marmalade-making blitz of January – their bitter skin and pectin-filled flesh make these oranges perfect for marmalade – it's with the remaining 10% that my heart really lies.
The tart nature of the Seville's juice – it's not also known as the sour or bitter orange for nothing – means it's a great alternative to lemon or lime juice in all kinds of marinades and dressings, especially those for rich meat such as duck, game and offal. For similar reasons, it's perfect for ceviche, too, where the fruit's acidity cooks and flavours the fish, while a quick squeeze will lift amayonnaise, much as you'd usually use lemon juice to do. (Seville oranges freeze really well, both the whole fruit or just the rind, so buy them in bulk now, while you can, and make roomfor them by shifting those icecubes out of the way.)
Even more than these uses for Seville oranges, however, my main interest in them lies with the orange-based liqueurs such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier (which take a sizable share of that remaining 10% of the crop) – though, to be honest, I'm lessenthusiastic about the liqueurs themselves (useful as they are in cooking) than I am about a particular by-product of the distilling process: orange-flower water. There are few ingredients that make me go quite soliterally flowery when describing the effect they have on a dish. Stir just a few drops into sweetened Greek yoghurt, for example, then spoon over some roast figs, and youhave adish for the gods (see what I mean about the floweriness?); a watercress and pistachio salad tossed in an orange-flower water dressing has asimilar effect.
Like the fresh fruit juice, orange-flower water has a piquancy that cuts through rich meat, which is whyfew marinades for, say, pork tenderloin, or salsas for oily, fried mackerel, or reductions for spooning over roast pork belly will not benefit from the addition of a drop or two of this nectar (I'll stop now, promise).
Blood orange season, meanwhile, lasts slightly longer, until March, but still make the most of them while you can. Like Sevilles, these oranges also bring out the romantic in me: is it their bitter-sweet nature, or that maroon hue and delicious hint of raspberry, that makes them so lovely to look at and eat? Cut horizontally, for example, blood orange slices pair brilliantly, both visually and taste-wise, with salty black olives and creamy white cheese.
Once the Seville and blood orange seasons are over and my wits return, for the rest of the year I turn to regular sweet oranges. Navel, late Valencia, pera, Jaffa… the choice is wide. I use themwidely, too: orange juice in a carrot or pumpkin soup; orange segments in a sharp salsa for grilled meat or fish; orange zest to infuse a beef stew; caramelised orange pieces in a salad with figs andgoat's cheese; grated zest and candied peel in little spice cookies.
However you use your oranges, ensure that all pith, and with it all bitterness, is removed from the equation. For this, I turn to amicroplane. I'm not agadget geek, but if you're new to them, these inexpensive graters may well spark the start of abeautiful relationship.
Roast guinea fowl with Seville orange and red chilli
Two classic British ingredients –Worcestershire sauce and marmalade – are put to good use here, enhanced with chilli, soy and a couple of hard herbs. Seville oranges are a cut above other oranges for this recipe, but if you can't get hold of any, other varieties will do. Serve with roast potatoes. Serves four.
150g medium-cut dark marmalade
4 red chillies, stem removed and sliced in half lengthways
2½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2½ tbsp soy sauce
60g wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
2 guinea fowl, each cut into quarters
2-3 Seville oranges, cut into 2cm wedges
700g fennel, cut into 2cm wedges
20g rosemary, on the stem
20g sage, on the stem
Put the first six ingredients in a large bowl, add a teaspoon of salt, and mixuntil combined. Add the guinea fowl quarters and use your hands thoroughly to massage the marinadeinto the meat. Add the orange and fennel wedges, the rosemary and sage, stir gently, thencover with clingfilm and leavein the fridge to marinade for acouple of hours.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gasmark 6. Arrange the guinea fowl pieces skin side up on a large baking tray (30cm x 40cm or similar), add all the remaining ingredients, then pour the marinade over the top. Roast for 35 to 40minutes, basting once or twice, until the meat is golden brown and the sauce sticky. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for five minutes before serving.
Seared sea bass with blood orange and baby fennel
Forget the carbs for one night, and instead try this simply prepared fish with a crisp, sweet and sharp salad for supper. It will make you feel super. Serves four.
8 star anise
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
Maldon sea salt
4 sea bass fillets, skin-on, cleaned and cut in half diagonally
4-5 medium blood oranges
70ml lemon juice
2 whole small dried chillies
2 tbsp maple syrup
40g rocket leaves
90g baby fennel, cut lengthways into paper-thin slices (use a potato peeler or mandolin to get them as thin as possible)
1½ tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Put six star anise, the chilli flakes and a teaspoon of sea salt in a spice grinder. Blitz to a powder, then rub over the flesh of the fish. Set aside tomarinate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the orange sauce. Use a small, serrated knife to peel and remove the skin and white pith from the oranges, then segment two or three of the fruits, so you have 120g of orange segments. Do this over a bowl, so that none of the juice is wasted.
Juice the remaining oranges – you should have 150ml or so. Set aside the segments, pour thejuice into asmall pan and add 60ml of lemon juice, the whole dried chillies, the two remaining star anise, the maple syrup and a quarter-teaspoon of sea salt. Bring to a rapid simmer and reduce for six to eight minutes, until quite thick and only about four or five tablespoons'-worth of syrup remains. Set aside and keep warm.
When you are almost ready to serve, put the rocket, fennel, orange segments, olive oil and remaining lemon juice in a large bowl with half a teaspoon of salt, and toss gently.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan on a medium to high heat.Lay in the fish skin side down, fry for four minutes, until the skin iscrisp, then turn and cook for another minute, until the fish is cooked through.
Gently toss the salad and divide it between four plates. Lay the fish alongside, spoon over the orange juice reduction, splashing a little over the salad, too, and serve at once.
Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
