We’ve got lots of berries ripening in the garden – fat, juicy blackberries, late raspberries and blueberries on a bush given to us by friends visiting from the United States. The blueberry is still young so doesn’t have a lot of fruit on it yet. Rather than have the handful of berries vanish into a crumble (it’s too hot for crumbles anyway) I decided to make friands. Continue reading
Adding Amaretti biscuits to the crumble mix gives it a lovely lift of almondy flavour that marries so well with fruit, especially blackberries and raspberries. I pinched the idea from the excellent Mark Hix but went a step further this time and added a slug of Amaretti liqueur to the fruit. Continue reading
Syllabub – a sort of boozy sweetened cream – is one of those old English desserts that’s mostly fallen out of favour but deserves a renaissance. It makes a wonderfully light cloudy topping for this almost equally old-fashioned pud, the sherry trifle. Continue reading
… or how to make three delicious puds from one pot of stewed rhubarb.
Stewed rhubarb – I don’t know about you but the words conjure up, for me, rather nasty school meals of overcooked, stringy rhubarb dolloped with gloopy custard. It doesn’t have to be like that. Continue reading
It seemed like such a good idea – a nice creamy cheesecake to contrast with the poached rhubarb fresh from the garden.
The rhubarb was delicious. Roasted gently in its own juices and a liberal sprinkling of sugar, it kept its shape and gave a welcome zing of acidity.
But the cheesecake – what a disaster. Continue reading