A scoop of chocolate and clementine ice cream

Seasonal citrus fruits are already an integral part of Christmas – satsumas in the stockings, mixed peel in the mince pies – but this year we took things a step further.  

My sister is a big fan of Nigella’s clementine cake, which is made with three whole clementines. We had one this year, and it made a very good alternative to Christmas cake.

We often make this fish stew by Sophie Grigson at Christmas. It uses dried orange peel to flavour the broth, but you can use fresh if necessary. The peel adds a lovely aroma to the finished soup.

Chocolate and clementine ice cream

This year, I also made some festive ice cream as an alternative to Christmas pudding. This involved making chocolate ice cream, and stirring the zest of two clementines into the mixture while it was still warm, adding some cooked hazelnuts once the mixture had cooled, and then churning it all in an ice cream maker in the usual way. The hazelnuts had been boiled to make hazelnut syrup (for festive coffee), and they stayed soft even once the ice cream had frozen. Delicious.

Sussex credentials: Abysmal. These citrus fruits are seasonal, imported from the Mediterranean at this time of year.