The hollandaise sauce Sauce Maltaise is so named because it should be flavoured with blood orange juice, but I couldn’t find any blood oranges on sale anywhere. I thought about knocking on the President’s door to ask her if she has any growing in her garden. She’s such a nice lady, I’m sure if she had some, she would have obliged, but in their absence, I used lots of ordinary Maltese oranges instead.

Then, of course, after I had made today’s recipes, I found two supermarkets that had bags of blood oranges imported from Italy.

The big advantage of any Maltese citrus fruits is that they are unwaxed.

The only disadvantage, if you can call it that, is that they are usually dirty and need a good scrub.

We Brits are a marmalade-eating nation, but our marmalade is usually made with bitter Seville oranges. I have made it very successfully here with similar Maltese bitter oranges, but I’ve never before tried using sweet oranges, an omission I decided to rectify.

My orange jelly marmalade recipe sounds like a lot of work for two jars of jelly, but it’s not really, and you can always double it up to make more.

The fruit will bubble away quietly on its own for two hours and then, having set up a contraption for straining the juice, it just needs to be left on its own for several hours to allow the juice to filter through.

The resultant jelly is delicious, either on toast or as a cake filling, and it makes a nice baste for roast duck or grilled duck breasts. It’s also good when mixed with a couple of spoonfuls of grainy mustard and a little oil and brushed on salmon fillets.

Maltese oranges don’t keep as well as their waxed brethren so, to use them up, I made a sunny salsa with orange segments, chopped mango, red onion and chilli, and served it with marinated chicken breasts. As I’ve yet to find a fresh mango that’s really ripe, I used tinned – a bit mushier but just as good.

Panna cotta is a much loved summer dessert of ours. Yes, I know – all that cream! But flavoured with oranges and a touch of orange liqueur, and served with some orange segments in syrup, it did add a little sunshine to an otherwise dull winter’s day.

Blood oranges would have looked good in the salsa and with the panna cotta, but never mind, next year I am determined to make some ruby red blood orange jelly.

Grilled glazed salmon

(Serves 4)

4 pieces salmon fillet, about 175g each
2 tbsps sunflower oil
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsps orange jelly marmalade or grated rind and juice of one orange and 1 tbsp honey

Line a grill pan with foil and place the salmon fillets. Whisk together the oil, mustard, orange jelly or orange rind and juice and honey, then brush the mixture over the salmon.

Preheat the grill to medium/high and grill the fish until it flakes easily when tested with the point of a knife, brushing with the mustard mixture. Serve on warm plates with lots of buttery small potatoes and some buttered spinach or mangetout.

Orange panna cotta

(Serves 6)

3 oranges
650ml cream
50g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsps Grand Marnier or other
orange-flavoured liqueur
1¼ tbsp gelatine powder
3 tbsps sugar

Pare off the zest from one of the oranges, avoiding the pith as much as possible. Put it into a pan with 500ml of the cream, the squeezed juice of the orange, the caster sugar and either the seeds scraped from the split vanilla pod or the vanilla extract.

Bring slowly to the boil, then strain into a bowl and stir in the liqueur.

Put three tablespoons of water into a cup and sprinkle on the gelatine. Leave it to soak for a few minutes, then stand the cup in a pan of simmering water and stir until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Stir the gelatine into the cream and let it cool.

Whip the remaining cream until thick and fold it in to the cooled cream.

Pour it into a mould, or divide between six ramekin dishes and chill until set.

Put the sugar into a pan with three tablespoons of water and heat slowly until the sugar dissolves.

Bring to the boil and let it bubble for two minutes, then cool. Peel and segment the remaining two orange and add them to the cooled syrup.

Dip the panna cotta mould into hot water for a few seconds, then turn it out on to a serving plate and surround with the caramelised oranges.

Maltese orange jelly marmalade

1kg Maltese oranges
1 large lemon
800ml water
Sugar

Scrub the fruit well, chop it into small chunks and put it into a large bowl. Pour over the water, cover the bowl and leave to stand overnight. Next day, tip the fruit into a large pan, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for two hours.

Rinse a clean tea towel in hot water (to get rid of any detergent residue), then pour boiling water over it and wring it out.

Now this is where you have to get inventive. Tie the four corners of the tea towel securely to the legs of an upturned stool or something similar – I use the smallest one of a nest of tables – then stand a bowl or, better still, a large measuring jug under the cloth, but make sure that if you use a bowl you can get it out easily.

The first time I did this, I couldn’t get the bowl out without tipping it sideways and spilling the juice, so I ended up bailing out the juice with a teacup.

Pour the fruit into the cloth and let the juice drain through until it stops dripping. It will take several hours, but don’t be tempted to help it through by pressing or squeezing as it will make the jelly cloudy.

You should end up with about half a litre of juice.

Put a couple of small plates in the fridge to chill. Measure the juice and pour it into a large pan, then add one-and-a-half times that amount of sugar, so to 500ml of juice, add 750g of sugar.

Bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar; then when it has completely dissolved, boil rapidly for 15 to 20 minutes until setting point is reached. Test by putting a teaspoon of jelly on to a cold plate, then put it back in the fridge for a minute or two. It’s set when a skin forms and goes crinkly when you push it with your finger. If it doesn’t, boil for a little longer and test again.

Pour the jelly into hot sterilised jars, cover and seal immediately and when cold, wipe and label the jars.

This amount will make approximately two jars of beautiful, sparkling amber jelly.

Chicken with sunshine salsa

(Serves 4)

4 chicken breast halves
3 tbsps dark soy sauce
Sunflower oil
4 tbsps honey
2 tsps grated fresh ginger
Ground black pepper
1 large orange
400g can mango slices, drained
½ small red onion, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh coriander or parsley, roughly chopped

Put the chicken into a small roasting tin in one layer. Whisk together the soy sauce, three tablespoons of oil, two tablespoons of the honey and the ginger.

Season with black pepper and then pour the mixture over the chicken, turning it so that it’s well coated.

Cover with cling film and leave to marinate for at least half an hour. Working with a sharp knife over a small bowl to catch the juice, cut the peel and pith from the orange, then separate the segments from the membrane. Squeeze any remaining juice from the membrane into the bowl.

Cut the segments in half and put them in a separate bowl. Dice the drained mango and add it to the orange segments, together with the onion and chilli.

Whisk together two tablespoon of oil, the remaining two tablespoons of honey, the vinegar and the orange juice and pour it over the salsa. Season with black pepper and stir in the coriander.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through, basting once with the juices.

Transfer the chicken to warm plates, drizzle with the cooking juices and serve with plain rice or noodles and the salsa.