Midweek Meals: It's apples and oranges with these five fruity recipes

Salads, soups, sweets - and seasonings for these main courses - all available with the fruit in your kitchen or local shops and markets

Pics: iStock

Carrot, Apple, and Ginger Soup

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

You can freeze this soup in portions easily once it has cooled to room temperature. If you use low salt stock cubes then this is also a great dish for weaning.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 60 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 6 medium carrots, peeled, and sliced

• 2 sticks celery, chopped

• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced

• 1 knob of fresh ginger (about the size of your thumbnail), grated

• 1 medium apple, chopped

• 1 litre vegetable stock

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Put the pot on the hob on a medium heat, add the vegetable oil then the ginger and onion, stir well.

2. Add the celery and carrots to the pot and stir.

3. Add the apple to the pot and stir around.

4. Pour the stock over all the vegetables and bring the pot to a simmer.

5. Cover the pot with the lid and leave to simmer for approximately 45 mins.

6. After which time the vegetables should all be tender.

7. Turn off the pot and leave for 15 mins before blending.

8. Season to taste before serving.

Rocket, Fennel & Orange Salad

recipe by:Derval O'Rourke

A refreshing summer salad

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 2 mins

Cooking Time

 1 mins

Total Time

 3 mins

Course

 Side

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of rocket, washed and dried thoroughly

• ½ fennel, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1½ oranges, peeled and broken into segments

• juice of ½ orange

• 50g Wensleydale cheese with cranberries, crumbled

Method

1. Place the rocket, fennel and orange flesh in a large serving bowl and mix well.

2. Drizzle over the orange juice. Crumble over the cheese.

3. Serve without delay.

Apple and chicken dinner

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This recipe is for older children, as cooking with meat requires a little extra safety.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 35 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil

• 4 streaky rashers

• 2 red onions

• 2 springs thyme

• 4 boneless chicken thighs

• 200mls chicken stock

• 1 large apples

Method

1. It is extremely important to wash your hands well, before and after you cook with raw meat.

2. First you will need to cut up the rashers into pieces about two centimetres in size. Wash the chopping board and knife, or scissors, after you use them.

3. Carefully cut each onion in half and then cut each half into about six wedges. Cut the apple into wedges as well.

4. Ask an adult to help you heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry the pieces of rasher for about a minute then scoop them into a dish that you can put in the oven. Add the red onions and thyme to the oven proof dish as well.

5. Add the four chicken thighs to the frying pan and fry them for about four minutes turning them once. This is called browning and helps to keep the juices inside the chicken when it is roasting. Turn off the hob and carefully add the chicken to the oven proof dish.

6. Add the stock to the frying pan, you do not need to put it back on the hob for this, the stock simply takes the flavour from the pan. Pour this into the ovenproof dish.

7. Add salt and pepper and the apple wedges.

8. Cook for 35 minutes with the lid off. Ask an adult to make sure that the chicken pieces are completely cooked through. This nice served with potatoes or rice for dinner.

Orange sherry glazed ham with pears and clementines

recipe by:Catherine Fulvio

The 5 spice in the glaze for this ham gives it a little edge of flavour, and marries so well with the pears and clementines

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 40 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 25 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the ham

• 4kg smoked ham on the bone, soaked overnight

• 2 onions, peeled and halved

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

• 2 bay leaves

• 6 cloves

• 8 black peppercorns

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 litre apple cider

• 2 to 2½ litres water

• For the glaze

• 100g soft brown sugar

• 2 tsp 5 spice powder

• 75ml sherry

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 2 oranges, zest only

• To decorate & garnish

• Cloves & star anise, to insert

• 5 to 6 medium pears, sliced in half and cored or 3 large pears, sliced into quarters and cored

• 3 clementines, halved

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp honey

• Bay leaves, to garnish

• Rosemary sprigs, to garnish

Method

1. Weigh the ham before you begin to cook. The cooking time for ham is 20 minutes for every 500g

2. Place all the ingredients for the ham into a large saucepan, add the ham and ensure there’s enough water to cover it.

3. Bring to the boil and simmer according to the calculated cooking time. Keep topping up the water level and scoop the froth off the top.

4. In the meantime, warm through all the ingredients for the glaze in a saucepan, ensuring the sugar has melted, then set aside.

5. Carefully remove the ham from the liquid, and preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5

6. Lift the ham onto a large roasting pan. Cut away the skin leaving a thin even layer of fat. Score the layer of fat in a diamond pattern and spread some of the glaze over the top. Insert the cloves and star anise.

7. Roast in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden. Keep an eye on the ham and spread more glaze after 10 minutes of roasting.

8. When ready to serve, heat a frying pan to a medium heat, add the butter, honey and some oil. Place the pears and the clementines in the pan, all cut side down and brown lightly.

9. To serve, place the ham on the platter. Arrange the pears and clementines around the ham with bay leaves and rosemary.

10. Catherine’s Top Tip: Cover and allow the ham to “rest” for 20 minutes – this is important for easy carving. Use the stock / liquid to make a soup after the ham has poached in it. 

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.