Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.Ĭombine the berries, sugar and lemon zest, and set aside to macerate for 30 minutes. Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly into a ball. (To make it by hand, rub in the butter with your fingertips.) Add the egg yolk (save the white) and enough milk or water to bring it together into large clumps. Serves four.Ģ00g gooseberries, topped and tailed 200g strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered 75g caster sugar, plus a little extra to finish Finely grated zest of 1 lemon 3 tbsp ground almonds 1 egg white, lightly beatenįor the sweet shortcrust pastry 200g plain flour 1 heaped tbsp icing sugar Pinch of salt 120g cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1 egg yolk About 50ml cold milk (or water)įor the pastry, put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor, blitz briefly to combine, then add the butter and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Strawberries' perfumed sweetness goes brilliantly with tart gooseberries in one of the easiest tarts you'll ever make. Gooseberry and strawberry rough-edged tart Cook until they collapse, but don't boil too hard, stir in 100g sugar per kilo, taste and adjust sugar levels as required. If you're cooking with fresh berries, add only the minimum of water – just enough to stop them burning before they release their own delicious, fragrant liquid. In fact, this fruit leaks out its juices so readily that you shouldn't need to add water to the pan. They'll wilt on defrosting, but that hardly matters if they're going to be cooked. If you're not growing your own and you can't find them fresh-picked locally, it's worth going for frozen berries, provided you're intending to cook them. My favourites are Invicta (a good all-rounder resistant to bugs and mildew) and the golden-tinged Keepsake. Maintenance is pretty simple: keep soil moist, net developing fruit to protect from birds and prune once the bushes are three years old or more. If you have limited space, train against a wall. Buy a few young bushes, if you can, and plant 1.5m apart in late autumn or early spring. They do best in a sunny, sheltered spot on fairly rich soil. Most gooseberries then require cooking and sweetening though some varieties can be eaten straight from the bush towards the end of the season, when fully ripe and sun-soaked, I generally prefer to pick them when they're still on the firm and tart side, and cook them. Use kitchen scissors or a sharp little knife to nip off the tough stalk from the top of the berry and the dried remains of the flower from the other end (both are unnecessary if you're going to sieve the cooked berries). Rather like a puree of cooking apples, this sauce can enhance all kinds of rich, fatty meats and fish, too.īasic preparation is simple – a quick wash followed by a top-and-tail. It has other savoury applications, too: cooked and only lightly sweetened, it makes a tart sauce that's long been a traditional partner to mackerel. It also makes a fabulous jam – either alone or paired with other fruit such as strawberries – and fine chutney. A straightforward gooseberry crumble or pie is also hard to beat.īut this fruit is not just for dessert. Gooseberry fool is one of my favourite summer puds – my version is a tart sieved puree mingled with cold custard, whipped cream and yoghurt. That flavour is liberated by just the right amount of sugar always be ready to reach for a little more caster sugar if the cooked fruit is coming up a bit tart. Gooseberry wine, gooseberry sauce, gooseberry pudding, gooseberry jam and jelly: these simple dishes are gifts from a time when richness of flavour was appreciated as much as sweetness. Way back in the 1600s, herbalist Nicholas Culpeper talked of them being scalded, baked or eaten raw there are recipes for them in Hannah Glasse's Art Of Cookery (1747), in Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1845) and Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management (1861). These characterful berries have a long association with British cooking.
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