Things you can do with Blackberries

(only in English this time)

It's been almost a week since my last posting, but I've haven't been doing nothing you'll see.

A few posts back I talked about the Blackberries that my father gave me. I decided to make my own privat round-up about the things I made with them. I still have some frozen in my freezer left, so I'll be able to use them during the coming months. Foodies talk about using fresh and seasonal, and I agree completely. But when the abbundance of the season is in my freezer, and I use it a few months later, it doesn't make me feel like I'm trespassing any foodlaw. I always get a bit annoyed when the food-police (on the web and elsewhere) try to "arrest" people about these things! So if you don't have blackberries frozen, you can always try one of the recipes next year!

So lets sum things up here:

We had our Blackberry Pudding, which was really yummy. I'll make that again soon.

I made lots of Blackberry sorbet (over 2 liters), we really do love our ice cream here...

Then the Blackberry and Cinnamon cake, from the book "La Dolce Vita".

Thanks Tanna for suggesting the Blackberry smoothie, my daughter and I enjoyed that a lot. We used 200 g frozen blackberries, 250 g yogurt, 1 small banana, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tsp honey. It was really quick, thick and luscious.

I also made some Spicy Blackberry Chutney. I found the recipe here. It had to cook a lot longer than the recipe said, because it was way too thin and I added 1 tsp of mixed spice. And I'm still not really sure if I like it or not, it was a bit too much vinegar and bit too less spicy for my taste.

And because you can get lots of apples now from cheap sources, I made the Loggin Road Blackberry Apple Pie from Haedrich's book "Apple Pie perfect".

There is only one picture from the pie in the tin just after baking. Why? Well let's put it this way; never try to turn a hot pie with boiling apples and blackberries on a plate, not only to prevent burns, or a kitchen full of sticky red boiled fruit, but also if you don't want to eat pie with a spoon out of a bowl... Still it was very good!

Aranka suggested to make Blackberry liquor with the berries and my friend Joke (this is not funny but a dutch name pronounced "Yo-kuh") even provided me with a recipe for Crème de Mures. That already tasted good after making it, but as the recipe said it gets better with age, we'll leave that for a while. I'm looking forward in using it in ice cream, or a shot in spiced poached peares or something.... (I also am preparing the Creme de Cassis, that was also on the same recipe page, but that takes a little longer)

Yesterday I baked a Blackberry and apple loaf from "101 cakes and bakes" and that was very lovely too.

And finally I made some Blackberry and Lemon curd from "Sue Lawrence's book of baking". And because this was such an easy and quick way to make it in the microwave, I'll share this recipe with you.

Blackberry and Lemon curd

(makes two 350 g/12 oz jars)

(PRINT recipe)

150 g/1 cup blackberries (fresh or frozen)

100 g/1 stick unsalted butter, diced

200 g/1 cup granulated golden sugar

grated zest of 3 unwaxed (organic) lemons

175 g/3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 large eggs (free range), beaten

Purée the (defrosted) blackberries in a blender and push them through a sieve, add the eggs, give a whisk and set aside. Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a (microwaveable) bowl and cook, uncovered, on High for 4-5 minutes, stirring halfway. The butter has to be melted and the sugar dissolved. Remove and cool.

Stir both together in one bowl and microwave for 5-6 minutes. Take it out of the microwave and whisk like a maniac every minute (otherwise it will scramble!). It starts to thicken after a few minutes and should have the consistency of lightly whipped cream.

Sterilize twoo jars and put the curd in hot. Close with a metal lid, place it upside down for 5 minutes and let cool completely. The lids should be airtight (You can test that by pressing on the top, it shouldn't say 'click' nor move anymore. Stick on some kind of label to make it look pretty (makes a great gift too!). After opening store in the fridge.

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That's all for the time being, I'm still planning on making a Blackberry vinaigrette, blackberry soufflé and an apple and blackberry strudel and then the blackberries of this year will probably be finished.