Michelle Darmody: Make the most of in-season fruit with my Seville orange pie recipe 

Seville oranges are in season from December to February

My Seville orange pie serves eight people.

Seville oranges have a bitterness more akin to limes than the more standard sweet orange. Their season stretches from December to February, and they are the best oranges for making traditional marmalade.

They are knobbly and rather thick-skinned, and it is this skin that gives the marmalade. Its distinctive flavour because you use all of fruit, flesh, pith and skin to make the amber preserve. It is not just the flavour that makes Seville oranges ideal for marmalade; they are very high in pectin which helps it to set.

The sweet, tart flavour of marmalade is perfect on hot buttered toast and makes a good snack any time of day, but it is also a handy ingredient in baking or cooking. Marmalade works well in some chicken or lamb dishes or is nice added to a salad dressing. On the sweet side, it is great paired with chocolate.

If you are going to make your own marmalade, Seville oranges should be available at the moment through fruit shops, or in some supermarkets. There are also frozen ones available online. I have not made marmalade with these, but it would be wise to reduce the amount of water added to the recipe.

There is a nice benefit to frozen Seville oranges as they would be available long past February.

Seville orange pie

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Seville oranges have a bitterness more akin to limes than the more standard sweet orange.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the base:

• 100g butter, melted

• 300g gingernut biscuits, finely crushed

• For the filling:

• 10g golden caster sugar

• 3 egg yolks

• 150mls Seville orange juice and the zest of 4 oranges

• a tin sweet, condensed milk (397g)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line an 8-inch round tin with parchment, I use either a loose base or spring form tin.

2. Stir the finely crushed biscuits through the butter making sure they are completely coated. Press the base down into your tin with your hands bringing it up the sides so you form a tart case. Bake for 10 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool completely.

3. Heat your oven to 180°C again and make the filling by putting the sugar, egg yolks, zest and condensed milk into a large bowl and whisking until it has doubled in volume. Stir the juice.

4. Scoop the filling into the cooled tart case and bake for 20 minutes until almost set but with a slight wobble. Allow to cool in the tin before removing and decorating as you wish.

Marmalade biscuits

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This recipe makes 10 biscuits that are great with a cup of tea.

Servings

10

Preparation Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 10 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 100g cold butter, cubed

• 200g plain flour, sieved

• 100g golden caster sugar

• 1 small egg lightly beaten

• 3 tbsp thick marmalade

Method

1. Rub the butter into the flour, and sugar until it looks like rough breadcrumbs. Slowly add the egg to bring the dough together. Wrap it in baking parchment and place it into the fridge for two hours, or overnight.

2. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two large flat baking trays with parchment.

3. Roll the dough to about 5 millimetre in thickness and cut out 20 circles. Place 10 of them onto one of the baking trays. Cut stars out of the centre of the other 10 and place them on the other tray.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden. Once cool enough to handle place on a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Spoon some marmalade onto the full circles and place the other biscuits on top.