The chef-patron of award winning restaurant Chapter One delivers a succulent trifle to ease you through the frost of February

On your next visit to your local green grocers or supermarket you’ll find shelves full of blood oranges. If you normally skip this fruit in favour of the standard kind, I encourage you to grab yourself a bag. There’s more to them than meets the eye. No, they’re not only for breakfast or afternoon snacking, blood oranges are extremely versatile and can be used in a number of dishes. They especially go well with mackerel escabeche, or sliced into a salad. My personal favourite, a blood orange panna cotta.

I absolutely love having blood oranges on the menu at Chapter One and look forward to when they come in season. Unlike standard oranges, you can only buy them in late December through to May. As the season is short, I like to take full advantage of experimenting in the kitchen with this winter fruit.

The blood orange name derives from its crimson colour. The fruit is typically smaller than the average orange and is mostly grown in Mediterranean countries. When shopping for blood oranges you’ll notice three main varieties Moro, Tarocco and Sanguinello. Moro is the most common of the three and its flesh is the darkest.

As winter’s not the best season for fresh fruit and produce, why not pick-up some blood oranges and get creative. How about spicing up your mid-week supper for your family or try something new on the weekend that’s a little fancy and may require some more time?

If you’re up for the challenge then I have a great recipe for you. I’ve served this in Chapter One over the years and it’s always gone down well with our customers and I’m sure my blood orange trifle with a warm blood orange espuma will also be a hit with your loved ones too. Enjoy.

Recipe

BLOOD ORANGE TRIFLE WITH A WARM BLOOD ORANGE ESPUMA

Serves 4

For the vanilla panna cotta

? 180ml milk

? 1 pint of double cream

? 2 vanilla pods (split and deseeded)

? 75g sugar

? 6 leaves of gelatin (soaked in cold water for five minutes)

Bring the milk, cream, vanilla pods and sugar to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin. Once the gelatin has dissolved pass through a chinois and place in a bowl over some ice. Stir the mix while it is cooling so the vanilla seeds don’t sink to the bottom.

For the blood orange jelly

? 2 pints blood orange juice

? 200g sugar

? 10 leaves gelatin (soaked in cold water for five minutes)

Warm the orange juice and sugar together. Remove from the heat add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Pass through a chinois and leave to cool.

For the warm blood orange espuma

? 1 tbsp corn flour

? 1 pint blood orange juice

? 150g sugar

? 4 leaves gelatin (soaked for five minutes)

Dissolve the cornflour in a little orange juice. Bring the remainder of the juice to the boil with the sugar. Add the hot juice to the cornflour and stir over a low heat until the mix comes back to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Pass through a chinois and pour into and espuma gun and gas with two gas cartridges.

To assemble

Take four clean glasses and place them on a flat shelf in your fridge. Slightly warm your blood orange jelly and vanilla panna cotta in the microwave. Firstly equally pour some blood orange jelly in the bottom of the four glasses. Add some orange segments in the bottom of the glass and some diced sponge pieces. Leave to set. Then pour a layer of vanilla panna cotta on top of the orange jelly. Leave to set. Repeat this process until you have multiple layers in your glass. Be sure to make each layer the same. Once this is all finished, remove from the fridge. Carefully spray the warm espuma on top of each trifle. Garnish with a little chocolate and serve immediately.