Italian French Bean Salad
Ingredients (vary quantities to how many beans you are using)
French beans
Lemon
Garlic
Olive Oil
Mint
Recipe: Cook the beans for 5 mins (until cooked), mix olive oil with juice of lemon, sliced garlic clove and chopped mint. Mix dressing over cooked beans, grind pepper and serve.
Gooseberry Fool
Ingredients
250g gooseberries, topped and tailed
3 tbsp caster sugar
200g Greek yogurt
1-2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200ml double cream
Recipe Put the gooseberries and sugar in a pan with a splash of water. Heat gently, stirring, then bring to a simmer and cook until the fruit starts to burst. Squash the gooseberries with a potato masher or fork until pulpy. Cool then chill until cold in the fridge.
Put the yoghurt in a bowl and beat with the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Gently whisk in the cream (it will thicken as you whisk so don’t overdo it). Ripple through the gooseberry pulp then spoon into pretty glasses or bowls to serve
Red Currant Cordial
Ingredients
250g red currants (you can also make this with blackberries or just about any fruit*)
150ml water
150g caster sugar (more or less, to taste)
Recipe
Remove the currants from their stems.
Pop the currants into a pot with the water. Cook over low heat to soften the fruit. Crush with a fork or a potato masher until all the fruit is mushed up, and the liquid is a stunning ruby hue.
Get a muslin cloth or thin tea towel (one you don’t mind being stained pink) that’s large enough to hold the fruit pulp. Rinse it with boiling hot water to sterilize it. When the cloth’s cooled a bit, squeeze out any excess water.
Use the cloth to line a sieve placed over a clean sauce pan. Carefully pour the mushed fruit and ruby water into the cloth. Let it strain through, gently pressing it to remove all the liquid.
Gently warm the liquid. Stir in the sugar, little by little, tasting as you go. Once the sugar has dissolved and the mix is as sweet as you’d like it, take it off the heat.
If you want it to have a long shelf life, pour into a sterilized bottle while it’s still warm. Secure with a screw top or cork. Like this, it’ll store at room temperature in a dark, cool place for up to 6 months.
If don’t want to bother with this just pour it into a clean jar or bottle and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
*You can swap the red currants for just about any fruit: blackberries, plums, rhubarb and more. If the fruit’s not squishable just finely chop or grate and follow the steps above.
Blackcurrant teabread
Glut of blackcurrants? Check out this tasty recipe for blackcurrant tea bread
Really great with some butter and a cuppa!