Every week, only in LIFE

The most sunny fruit of all, the orange, is not just brilliant in baking, it’s wonderful with meat and fish too, says Rachel Allen, who has some delicious recipes to share. Photography by Tony Gavin

It’s strange to think that a fruit as sunny and juicy as an orange would be in season during the coldest of winter months, yet, in Spain, the season for oranges is from January to March, while oranges bought at other times of the year will have come from more far-flung places, such as South America and Australia. This is the time of the year when any keen marmalade maker will get hold of Seville oranges. These oranges give marmalade that distinctive kick and bite, flavour-wise. The peel and the juice are more bitter than normal sweet oranges, so when this is balanced with plenty of sugar, the flavour of the marmalade is extraordinary.

But it’s not just the regular oranges and the Seville oranges that are in abundance right now. Blood oranges, with their ruby-red flesh and juice, have a really interesting flavour — orangey with a hint of tangy raspberry. Like other oranges, they work a treat in baking, but also with savoury food too, as in the blood orange with mozzarella, rocket and hazelnuts recipe, right.

Oranges work really well with both meat and shellfish. The fattier meats love orange, as the slight sharpness cuts through the richness of pork, duck or goose, whether it’s basting roasted pork, making sauce for the classic French dish of duck a l’orange, or adding grated zest into a stuffing for roasted goose or duck, as in the roast duck with thyme and orange stuffing recipe, also right.

When it comes to shellfish, I think the best partner for orange has to be the scallop. The scallops with crispy bacon lardons and orange recipe, far right, is one of my favourites, and it shows how the very happy threesome is a classic one for a good reason.

BLOOD ORANGE WITH MOZZARELLA, ROCKET AND HAZELNUTS (Pictured) Serves 4. For the dressing, you will need:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (see my Tip, above)

Half teaspoon Dijon mustard

A pinch of caster sugar

Orange zest (from one of the blood oranges or salad oranges for the salad, below)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad, you will need:

2 tablespoons hazelnuts

3 blood oranges or 3 normal oranges

2 x 125g (4½oz) balls of mozzarella cheese (see Rachel Recommends)

2 handfuls of rocket leaves

Sea salt flakes and ½ teaspoon of cracked black peppercorns

First, make the dressing. Put the extravirgin olive oil in a small bowl. Add in the red wine vinegar, the Dijon mustard and the pinch of caster sugar. Finely grate the zest from one of the oranges for the salad and add it into the dressing. Mix all the ingredients well, and season the dressing to taste with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. The dressing will keep, covered, in the fridge for a few days.

When you’re ready to make the salad, put a pan on a medium-to-high heat and add in the hazelnuts. Tossing the pan every so often, cook the hazelnuts for about five minutes until they are a deep golden colour inside. Tip the roasted hazelnuts onto a tea towel and vigourously rub them in the tea towel to remove the papery skins. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and set them aside.

Next, prepare the blood oranges or normal oranges, whichever you’re using. You want to peel the oranges with a knife so that there’s no membrane left on the orange, but you must be careful not to cut too much peel from the orange, as you’ll waste the precious juice inside. Cut a slice off the top and bottom of each orange, making sure to let any juice fall into the bowl for the dressing, then cut the peel off, from top to bottom, in strips.

Once the orange is peeled, put the strips of peel in your hand and squeeze them over the dressing in the bowl. Cut the oranges into ½ cm( ¼in) slices — slice across the ‘equator’ of the fruit — and arrange the orange slices on your serving dish or plates. Tear the mozzarella balls into chunks and arrange them over the orange slices, then scatter the salad with the rocket leaves. Sprinkle the panroasted hazelnuts over the rocket. Drizzle with the dressing, and finish off with a pinch of crumbled sea salt flakes and a light scattering of the cracked black peppercorns over the top, then serve.

ROAST DUCK WITH THYME AND ORANGE STUFFING

If you want to use this stuffing for a goose, then triple the quantities. Serves 4-5

For the thyme and orange stuffing, you will need:

50g (2oz) butter

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

110g (4oz) fresh or frozen white breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons thyme leaves, chopped

1 generous teaspoon of finely grated orange zest

You will need:

1 duck, about 1.8kg (4lbs) in weight)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4.

First, make the stuffing. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a gentle heat and add in the finely chopped onion. Season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook, covered, on a low heat for about 8-10 minutes until the onion is soft but not browned. Add the fresh or frozen white breadcrumbs, whichever you’re using, the chopped thyme and the finely grated orange zest. Check the seasoning and add more sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, if necessary. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

Next, season the cavity of the duck with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and spoon in the cooled stuffing. Put the duck on a rack in a roasting tin and pierce the skin all over with the point of a sharp knife (this will help release the fat during cooking). Season the skin well with sea salt to help crisp it up during cooking.

Roast the stuffed duck in the oven for one-and-a-half hours, allowing about 20 minutes per 450g (16oz). Baste it occasionally — pour the fat over it to keep it moist — and drain any excess fat from the tin (save it for roast potatoes).

When the duck is cooked, the legs should feel slightly loose, and a metal skewer inserted into the thigh should be too hot to hold against the inside of your wrist. When the duck is cooked, transfer it to a serving plate and leave it to rest for 15 minutes before carving it and serving it with the stuffing.

SCALLOPS WITH CRISPY BACON LARDONS AND ORANGE Serves 2 as a starter or light meal. You will need:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 streaky bacon rashers

1 large orange

4 prepared scallops, including the corals (see

In Season, above right)

15g (½oz) butter

2 small handfuls of winter salad leaves

First, make the dressing. In a bowl, mix together the tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil with the sherry vinegar and season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Next, put a pan on a high heat, allow it to get hot, then add a small drizzle of olive oil and the streaky bacon rashers. Cook them for a few minutes on each side until they are crisp and golden, then allow them to sit on kitchen paper.

Next, prepare the orange. Cut a slice off the top and the bottom of the orange, then hold the orange over the bowl containing the dressing. Peel the orange with a knife, maintaining the curve of the orange by cutting strips off it from top to bottom, making sure to remove all the white membrane and not too much of the flesh. Any juice that escapes will fall into the dressing bowl. Cut the orange, across the ‘equator’, into slices about 5mm (about ¼in) thick. Set the orange slices aside. Squeeze the peel over the dressing bowl to salvage any last bits of orange juice.

If the scallops are quite large, you can slice them horizontally in two. Season the scallops, including the corals, with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Put a frying pan on a high heat, and when it is hot, add the butter. Allow the butter to foam, then put the scallops directly on to the pan in a single layer. Cook them on one side for 1-2 minutes or until they are a light golden colour, before turning them over to cook them on the other side for the same length of time.

Now it’s time to assemble the salad. Arrange the winter salad leaves on the plates with the orange slices you set aside earlier, and drizzle most of the dressing over the top. Sit the scallops on the winter salad leaves, then crumble the crispy bacon rashers over the top. Drizzle the plates with the last of the dressing, then serve immediately.