Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
My husband has been busy picking blackberries these past few days. They are coming fast and furious now! Its a good thing we like them.
I do try to freeze as many as I can for winter crumbles and such, but I also like to bake him a few tasty desserts with them as well!
Nothing could be easier than this Easy Blackberry Galette Recipe! It has to be one of the quickest, simplest things to make, and its really delicious and tasty when done.
You can make your own pastry for it if you wish.
I highly recommend my Butter and Lard pastry. It is what I like to use for all of my pies and pastries, sweet and savoury.
I also keep ready made all butter short crust pastry in the freezer for use in last minute desserts such as this galette, which makes it even quicker and easier, literally totally NON-FAFF!
Just unroll it, and place it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper . . .
Pile your picked and cleaned fresh berries in the middle. I can't speak for using frozen ones for this as I have never done so.
Frozen ones probably give off more juice and would take longer to cook. I would thaw and drain them first.
You might think it is too many berries, but they shrink when they are cooking and even though you think you have lots, you will end up with a few empty spots, but that's okay. Still tastes marvellous.
You fold the edge of the pastry up over the berries all around the outsides, overlapping it a bit in the corners (my favourite bit!).
Sprinkle some sugar over the blackberries, only 2 TBS, and bake . . . I like to brush the edges with a bit of milk and sprinkle on some demerara sugar for a bit of a crunch.
And I like to dust the finished galette with icing sugar . . . its so very pretty . . . it reminds me of lace petticoats . . .
The corner pieces are my favourite bits because I love pastry and I am a glutton . . .
Blackberries were not something we got to eat very much when I was a child. They made my mother cringe. They always made her think of large black ants.
She could not bring herself to touch or cook with them, let alone eat them . . .
Thankfully I have no such problem with them. I quite simply love them.
Raw. Cooked. Baked in pies or crumbles. Made into jams and jellies. Yes, I love them a great deal!
When we lived in Meaford, Ontario, we lived in an old farmhouse just outside of town on the county line.
We were surrounded by apple orchards, some in production and some gone wild, and woodlands filled with wild blackberries.
I have fond memories of picking the with my sister one weekend when she had come up for a visit. I made jars and jars of blackberry jelly that year. Oh it was sooooo good! Best part was getting to do it all with my sister.
Top Tip - when brambling (blackberry picking) wear gloves and long sleeves! That way you don't get as scratched up!
Also if you are picking wild brambles, soak them in salted water for about 10 minutes prior to using. Wild blackberries can have quite a few grubs in them, so this helps to get rid of them.
They die and float to the top of the water so you can easily scoop them out.
Todd loves his galette with plenty of rich double cream for pouring . . .
Drizzled down over top of the warm galette . . . forming rich little rivulets in between the berries . . .
Turning pink in places . . . .
staining your hands, the plate, and your teeth . . .
There is no finer dessert to start off the month of September. Truly not . . . .
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Easy Blackberry Galette
Quick and easy especially if you use a ready-made crust. A delicious autumn dessert served warm with pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.
ingredients:
- 1 sheet of ready roll all butter short crust pastry
- 600g fresh blackberries (4 generous cups)
- 2 TBS sugar
- a bit of milk for brushing
- demerara sugar for sprinkling
instructions:
How to cook Easy Blackberry Galette
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Pick and clean the blackberries. Place them onto the sheet of pastry, leaving a 2 inch clean edge all around. Sprinkle with the sugar. (Taste your berries, if they are tart you may need a bit more.) Fold the edges of the pastry up over the berries all the way around. Brush the edges with milk. Sprinkle the pastry edge with demerara sugar.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Cut into rectangles to serve along with your desired accompaniment. Delicious!
My husband was in heaven. I thought it would slow him down with the berry picking for a day or two, but he was back out there again today. I guess instead of slowing him down, it inspired him to pick even more!
Up Tomorrow: Crispy Herbed Potato Rosettes
A flight of fancy on my part . . .
The blackberries are not quite ready yet, but it won't be long now. We are lucky in this country to have an abundance of blackberries that grow in just about every hedgerow free for the picking.
They call them Brambles over here and long about late July on, you can see people parked up and picking to their hearts content. We British are great lovers of the Bramble, and no small wonder.
We actually have plenty right in our back garden as well as in our hedge. I always end up the season with bags of them in the freezer, ready to turn into pies and crumbles and jams.
This recipe I am sharing today makes good use of either fresh or frozen blackberries and is a RIF on our very popular Eton Mess Dessert, which is actually just whipped cream, strawberries and crushed meringues. A simple dessert. One thing I really love about British summers . . . they are a tasty berry fest from beginning to end!
I was recently gifted (as an early Birthday Pressie) with this lovely Cookhouse Hand Blender and I was really chuffed to receive it. As you know mine had recently disappeared and my electric hand whisk blew up.
I have been busy putting it through its paces since I received it. I use it every day. It is great for making lovely homemade mayonnaise, and pureeing banana, making smoothies, etc. The mini food processor makes short work of blitzing small bits into crumbs, like nuts and bread.
I use it to chop onions and celery. Oddly enough I had never used the whisk attachment on my old stick blender, but not having a working hand mixer now, I decided to use this the other day to whip together my cream and yogurt for this dessert.
It did an excellent job! This electric hand blender has variable speeds, so you can start it off at a lower speed and work it up to a higher speed.
This was invaluable when it came to whipping up this cream mixture. It did not end up all over the kitchen because of that! Yay!
Eton Mess is a very traditional British dessert composed of fresh strawberries, broken meringues and whipped cream.
History says that it was first eaten at Eton College in 1893, created to serve at the annual cricket match between the pupils of Eton and Harrow.
Its very delicious in its simplicity, but then again . . . it is the simple things in life which often bring us the greatest pleasures.
This lovely dessert I am sharing today is a variation on that theme . . .
A simple whole blackberry sauce is layered in glasses with a good lemon curd. If you have your own homemade curd so much the better.
You can find my recipe for that here. Its pretty darned good if I don't say so myself.
You don't have to use homemade curd . . . but its awfully nice if you can.
The cream mixture is simply thick Greek Yogurt and Single Cream (whipping cream) beaten together until soft peaks form.
I use full fat yogurt, why quibble over a few calories when it comes to this. In for a penny . . . in for a pound.
These are layered in dessert glasses. I like a layer of the yogurt cream on the bottom and then on the top.
With layers of the bramble sauce and lemon curd in between . . .
You top it with crumbled meringue nests and finish it off with a light dusting of icing sugar. This is so, so, so . . . lush and delicious.
Yield: 4
Blackberry & Lemon Eton Mess
A delicious RIF on a traditional favourite using seasonal blackberries.
ingredients:
- 150g fresh or frozen blackberries (1 cup)
- 1 TBS water
- 2 TBS sugar, divided
- 280g full fat Greek yogurt (1 cup)
- 240ml single cream (1 cup)
- 160g good quality lemon curd (1/2 cup)
- 2 meringue nests, crumbled
- icing sugar to dust
instructions:
How to cook Blackberry & Lemon Eton Mess
- First prepare the blackberry sauce so that it can cool enough to use. (I actually like to prepare it the night before.) Place the berries along with the water and 1 TBS of the sugar into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until reduced. It should be somewhat syrupy. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely. (If making the night before, cover and place in the refrigerator.)
- Place the yogurt, cream and remaining sugar into a bowl. Whip with an electric whisk until soft peaks form. Layer this mixture into dessert glasses along with the lemon curd and blackberry mixture, making a bottom and top cream addition, with the lemon curd and blackberries in the middle. Crumble the meringues over top, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately. Fabulously tasty!
I cut the recipe in half for this, successfully, making only two servings which Todd was able to enjoy two days in a row. Oh but I was sorely tempted . . . and yes, I did have a tiny taste for review purposes you understand, lol. I could never recommend something I hadn't actually at least tasted for myself could I? Oh the things I do for you . . . . you are most welcome! 😋
Our blackcurrants are coming fast and furious now. In all truth in about a week, they will be all done, and what's left on our bush will be left to the birds to enjoy. They don't mind one iota, and neither do I. Give nature back a bit of what it gifts you with is my motto.
I love to make fruit cordials in the summer with some of our soft fruits. I do freeze a lot, and I even freeze some of the cordials for the winter. If you pop them into an ice cube tray, you can just pop them out once frozen into a baggie and you have single servings of cordial to enjoy all winter long. You can't beat the taste of a homemade fruit cordial made with real fruit!
I have always loved the flavour of blackcurrants. Back home my favourite Halls cough drops were the Blackcurrant ones. Cordials are really easy to make. You just mix fruit, sugar, water . . .
Cook to extract the juice, and thicken it, then strain. This time I added a vanilla bean to infuse it with some delicious vanilla flavour. You can leave it out if you want, but I really like the special touch it adds to the finished cordial, both scent and taste . . .
You end up with a really thick strong fruity syrup, which makes a wonderfully refreshing drink when diluted!
When diluting I use a ration of one part cordial to 3 parts of whatever I am mixing it with. You can use sparkling water, regular water, fizzy lemonade, etc.
It makes a really refreshing and delicious drink poured over ice. I like it mixed with a fizzy drink like 7-up or Sprite . . .
You can spoon the syrup over ice cream if you wish . . .
Add it to vanilla ice cream and milk to make fruity milk shakes . . .
Its pretty wonderful no matter how you choose to enjoy it!
You can use just about any berry in the same quantities to make a cordial, or a mix of berries, always delicious!
Whenever I am making cordial I always think of Anne Shirley and her friend Diana getting drunk on Cordial that had fermented and turned alcoholic. Don't you just love the story of Anne of Green Gables?
Its one of my favourite stories. A simpler time with simple pleasures. Just like this simple homemade cordial . . .
Yield: 450ml or scant 2 cups
Black Currant & Vanilla Cordial
Sweet and fruity. Mix 1 part cordial with 3 parts water, sparkling water, sparkling lemonade, etc. for a deliciously refreshing summer drink. You can actually use any berry to make this, or a mix of berries.
ingredients:
- 300g Black currants or other berries (3 cups)
- 160g sugar (1/2 cup plus 5 TBS)
- 325 ml cold water (1 1/3 cups)
- 1 large vanilla pod, split and caviar scraped out
instructions:
How to cook Black Currant & Vanilla Cordial
- Pick over and clean your currants. Place into a saucepan. Add the vanilla pod and its caviar. Sprinkle the sugar over top. Pour in the water. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Mash the fruit as it cooks with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally over low heat until the fruit has cooked and the sugar is dissolved. It won't take long. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Strain again and then pour into a glass bottle or jar with a lid. You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to one month or freeze for longer. (If freezing it is more practical to freeze in smaller amounts so that you can thaw out only what you need. I like to freeze it in ice cube trays and then once frozen, pop them into a zip lock baggie. Presto, individual servings!)
At any rate, I hope you will give this delicious fruit cordial a go and that you will enjoy it. Such a simple thing, and so very wonderful . . .
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