This is a wonderful recipe to blow away those January blues, however, blood oranges are not in season very long.

Ingredients:

 100g   Swede

4        Blood Oranges – unwaxed

150g   Unsalted Butter

150g   Light Brown Sugar

3        Medium Free-Range Eggs

150g   Self-Raising Flour

5        Star Anise (whole pods)

60g     Caster Sugar

Grease and flour a 2 pint pudding bowl

Method:

Peel and finely grate the swede, zest and juice 3 of the oranges, keeping the juice separate from the zest.

Top the juice up with water until you have 200ml place the water, juice and the star anise in a saucepan with the caster sugar, bring to the boil and simmer until it has thickened and gone to a syrup, set to one side and cool.

Whisk the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, add the eggs in gradually with a tablespoon of flour each time. Add the rest of the flour and whisk until all incorporated.

Fold in the grated swede and orange zest.

Cut the third orange into slices, place the star anise from the syrup at the base of the bowl, arrange the sliced oranges over the top, pour the syrup over the sliced oranges.

Tip the batter mix over the arranged oranges, smooth the top.

Take a square of baking parchment and make a pleat by folding a crease in the centre, this will give the pudding room to expand.  Place the parchment over the pudding basin and tie securely with string.  Cut away any excess parchment, make a handle for the pudding by threading a double length of string through the string already tied around the pudding, and secure it the other side.

Place the pudding into a saucepan with a good fitting lid, fill with water to half way up the basin, keep an eye on the water level, it might need topping up throughout cooking.

Simmer gently for two hours

Use a skewer to check the pudding is cooked, if it comes out clean it is cooked otherwise wrap back up and steam for a little longer.

When pudding is steamed, cut the string leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out.

Place a plate on top of the pudding and invert the bowl, gently remove the bowl, and serve.