Proof is in the pudding…

and in the vinegar it seems!

After enjoying another hour of foraging for fruits in our local wood as we promised ourselves, we ended up with another 2 pounds of blackberries, 2 pounds of sloes and half a pound of elderberries.

Once home we started the cooking and baking process, with my girlfriend making me a Blackberry and Apple Crumble for the first time ever, while I attempted to make mum’s recipe of Blackberry Vinegar.

The smell around the house of cooking blackberries was so intoxicating! All our pots and pans were taking on a deep red glaze as was the sink when it came to washing them all.

Having never made anything like this before I think the results were fantastic. We had some of the blackberry vinegar with some salad leaves and brie to start and had some of the delicious crumble for pudding. I am now converted into home baking especially with home grown and foraged produce. I am already looking forward to supper tonight as more of the crumble will be enjoyed!

Now to decide what to do with the sloes and elderberries…

Blackberry and Apple Crumble (Gluten Free)

First read… Proof is in the pudding…

8ozs Blackberries
1 large cooking apple
1 tabelspoon caster sugar for the fruit
4ozs Gluten free flour
2ozs Stork/Cooking margarine
3 tabelspoons demerara sugar
Oats for the topping

Use a pre greased oven proof dish for best results.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F Gas 4 or 170C Fan Oven.

1 Cut the apple into bitesize chunks and place in a non stick saucepan along with the blackberries. Add some boiling water and the tablespoon of caster sugar and heat until the apples are soft but have some bite.

2 While thats cooking, mix the flour and cooking margarine in a mixing bowl and sift it through your fingers until it resembles a breadcrumb consistency.

3 Add the 2 tablespoons of demarara sugar to the pasty mix and stir in well.

4 Place the warmed fruit into the greased oven proof dish and cover with the pastry mix.

5 Level the pastry mix with a fork and add a tablespoon of demarara sugar to the topping.

6 Finally add some oats over the top of the dish. Most coeliacs are not allergic to oats if they are not eaten everyday (Source: Coeliacs Society).

7 Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 mins or till the topping is golden brown.

Serve with either cream or custard.

Blackberry Vinegar

First read… Urban foraging

12ozs of Blackberries
Quarter teaspoon of peppercorns
1 Cinnamon Stick
Half pint of white wine vinegar
6ozs caster sugar

Bring all the ingredients to the boil gently and then pour them though a strainer.

Add the cooled vinegar to a vinagrette bottle and use as a dressing over salads etc.

Meringue Roulade (Gluten Free)

First post…
Having benefitted from my mum’s cooking for over 30 years, I feel I have a compelling need to share my good fortune with a wider audience in the hope that they will come to appreciate why I return home so often for a refresher!   Mum has a gluten intolerance and yet our diet over the years has never been compromised by this, and we have always eaten the same dishes (except bread cakes and biscuits).

With that said, I wanted to share one of mine and my family’s all time favourites in my first post – my mum’s meringue roulade.

Serves 6 to 8 people

5 egg whites
8ozs Caster Sugar
1 teaspoon White or malt vinegar
1 teaspoon Real Vanilla Essence
2 heaped teaspoons Cornflour
Icing Sugar

A 35cm x 27cm Swiss-roll tin lined with oiled baking paper or a silicon lining cut to size.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F Gas 4 or 170C Fan Oven.

1 Whisk egg whites until they are very stiff (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without them falling out)

2 Continue to whisk and add caster sugar a spoon at a time.

3 Then add the vinegar, vanilla essence and corn-flour and mix them in completely.

4 Spoon the meringue mixture into the lined Swiss-roll tin and bake for 10 minutes or a little longer if the top not golden. The meringue will have risen but will sink again as it cools.

5 When cold, turn out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper dusted with icing sugar.

6 Whisk cream until stiff, spread onto meringue and then add fruit of your choice.

7 Using the greaseproof paper to help roll up the meringue, put on a dish and dust with more icing sugar.

Ready for baking

Straight from the oven

Left the tin

Creamed and fruited

Ready to roll

Eat me - yummy!