Photo by Keiko Oikawa
I love it when it’s Seville orange season — and I’m not even an habitual marmalade-maker! What I love about Seville oranges is that glorious juice — it has the fragrance of super-oranges and the fierce sharpness of limes which brings to anything you add it to a beguiling perfumed tang: I use it for dressings, marinades, sauces, anything I can think of, and suggest you do the same. I might also refer you enthusiastically to my Chicken Traybake with Bitter Orange and Fennel, and to my No-Churn Bitter Orange Ice Cream.
My chief recommendation, though, is for this Bitter Orange Tart. I make it as much as I can while the Seville oranges are about (and I freeze some juice, too, to use later on) though you can substitute regular eating oranges and lime juice (and see the introduction to the actual recipe). One year I made this, a friend commented on the extraordinarily wonderful pastry; I was very pleased to let her (and you, now) know that its base is in fact just butter and crushed gingernuts (gingersnaps or plain ginger cookies can also be used) and is wonderful against the cheek-squeaky sherbettyness of the bitter orange curd topping. Serve with a drizzle of honey, more or less depending on how much you want to sweeten its fabulous bitterness.
My Bitter Orange Tart is a Premium Recipe, which means that you need to be signed up to the website to get it. If you’re not signed up, don’t worry: it’s the work of a moment and costs nothing to do.
