Seville oranges

"their Indian name is 'narayam' which means 'perfume within'"

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

I don't want to repeat myself - I did marmalade and seville orange history when I started this blog last year - but it's that time of year again and it's dominating my life a bit at the moment, so I thought I would see what else I could find out about Seville oranges.

I have to say that every year I worry a bit that we won't find any. One of our suppliers at the market said that the producers were pulling up the trees because nobody wanted them, but so far so good. More expensive (not that much though) than ordinary oranges and you do have to look for them. You won't find them in the supermarket, though we did find them one year at the Colonial Food Market in Doncaster. Not this year though. They are a huge crop in Spain and sold to England and Scotland - well that's where they make marmalade.

As you can see from the picture my box is a smaller one this year as we still have some of last year's left. I have already done one batch, but a couple more to go I think. I'm not going to talk about marmalade here though - done that before. Because you can do a whole lot of other things with them and here are some of them.

pare strips of zest from the flesh, thread together and hang in a dry place. Add a strip to bouquet garni to lend depth of flavour to rich beef stews. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Apparently this is also very popular in Mexico.
Use anywhere you would use lemon for a slightly less acid taste
Dry the peel and pound into a powder that you can 'sprinkle over everything from a veal chop to a bowl of strawberries." Jennifer McLagan

Slow-braised duck legs with Seville oranges, star anise and savoy cabbage - Thomasina Miers. This one looked really yummy and I think I might try it some time.

Seville duck stew - from Rob Andrew - though this uses marmalade rather than the oranges themselves - so a bit of a cheat really.n It was cooked with rice and chorizo sausage.
Bee Wilson has a few recipes that are tempting sounding - including candied peel, a sabayon and a vinaigrette

Roast guinea fowl with Seville orange and red chilli - from Yotam Ottolenghi - also very delicious looking. Not sure that you can easily find guinea-fowl here but you could try it with duck instead - or maybe even chicken!

Maggie Beer has a recipe in her Maggie's Harvest book for Roast duck with Seville orange, apple, prune and prosciutto stuffing. It sounds tempting, but I won't reproduce it here. I couldn't find it on the net, but if you want a copy just email me and I will send it to you. Sorry - feeling lazy.
Sauce bigarade is a classic French sauce which is what makes Duck à l'orange. Again I'm being lazy and not giving it to you here, but I'm sure a search on the net would find you one.

I do hope they don't disappear. Making marmalade is part of my winter thing - indeed, coming as it does at the end of winter, it's a harbinger of spring really. And they remain one of those really seasonal things. You won't find them at any other time - and it's almost like the gooseberries - blink and they're gone.