July 3, 2011

GOOSEBERRY COBBLER

I harvested my gooseberries last weekend and have the scars to prove it.  You should get danger money for jobs like that.

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Anyway, I made my favourite gooseberry pudding, using a recipe from Delia’s Summer Collection – gooseberry cobbler.  It includes an interesting mystery ingredient – elderflower cordial.    You can see the recipe on Delia’s website here.

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It’s the simplest of puddings to make.  You simply pile the gooseberries into a dish, sprinkle on the cordial and some sugar, make a sticky dough and dollop that on top and hey presto – you have a pretty swish pudding.  Impressive enough for visitors, too.  Especially if you make fancy ice-cream to go with it.

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Here’s my version of gooseberry cobbler.

This is what you need

900g gooseberries (I only had 500g and it still worked well)

110g caster sugar

2tblsp elderflower cordial

225g plain flour

½tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

110g butter, diced

170ml buttermilk (or half milk and half natural yoghurt)

demerara sugar to sprinkle

This is what you do

Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°fan/gas mk 7

Grease a 23 cm round deep baking dish, or equivalent oblong dish.

Wash and top and tail the gooseberries and tumble into the dish.  Sprinkle the caster sugar and cordial on top.

Put the flour, salt, baking powder and butter into a food processor and blitz until “breadcrumbs” form.  Add the liquid and pulse until a sticky dough forms.

Dollop tablespoons of the mixture on top of the fruit and sprinkle about a teaspoon of demerara sugar on top of that.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Serve warm with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Serves 6

4 comments:

  1. That that looks right up my street. I love gooseberries! My grandfather used to take me out picking them so they always remind me of him.
    I have that cookbook (it's a good one) so I must tell Clive to try that if we can find some gooseberries.

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  2. Craig - I only had about 500g as I put half of my harvested gooseberries in the freezer.
    The recipe also works well for other fruits, such as apricots, plums or rhubarb, in which case leave out the elderflower cordial or use your imagination for your own mystery ingredient!

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  3. I have not had English gooseberries in years, I had forgotten they existed, must have a look around. In S.Africa we only seem to get Cape gooseberries.
    The topping on this looks really yummy. Diane

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  4. Utter perfection! I have some black gooseberries ripening now so when I get home I shall make this for sure!

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