Blackberry and apple geranium swirl

My lovely blogging friends, Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Janice who blogs at Farmers Girl Kitchen are currently running a campaign to encourage us all to enjoy seasonal blackberries and have created #GBBR or Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up. So I'll be linking up this post to there linky.

                                                    

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you will have no doubt noticed that along with courgette, blackberry recipes are quite common. I regularly post blackberry recipes as we have a large plant of the thornless variety "Loch Ness" in the garden, its a fabulous reliable variety and routinely spurs new plants, the plant I am currently picking from is a spur of a spur of a spur we moved from our previous home. The plant crops very well most years and produces large juicy berries so beloved for inclusion in jam, preserve and crumble recipes.

This recipe came about as I wanted to utilise the beautiful subtle flavour of a new scented leaved pelagonium for this year, "apple scented" and what better combination than apples and blackberries. I was aiming for a fool but decided to substitute the cream for yogurt instead to lighten the dish.

I have also been experimenting with my new camera too, not that I am trying to surpass Mr LF but just handy for when I am in the kitchen or he's not available. So far I am pretty pleased with the results. Anyway on to the easy recipe.

What you need

• 1 cup of blackberries (retain a few whole ones for decoration)
• A few Apple pelagonium (geranium) leaves (optional, still tastes great without them)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (0% fat works well)
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche
• Qty of dinky glass pots or dishes to serve 

What you do

• Whiz up the blackberries, sugar and pelagonium leaves in the food processor until you have a puree
• Sieve the puree to remove the seeds,leaves and stalks.
• In another bowl mix the vanilla, yogurt and creme fraiche to combine
• Simply place alternate layers of the yogurt and puree into your glass pots and swirl using a cocktail stick
• Chill a little before serving

Courgette and mushroom pasta

What to make with courgettes from the garden for this season ? something quick, light and easy. These small perfectly formed beauties are going to marry with some button mushrooms in a quick pasta sauce with some cream friache. I use creme fraiche a lot in my cooking as it lasts so well in the fridge and has a lovely sharp twang to it that cuts the richness beautifully in sauces.

The other great thing is it uses loads of courgettes too, so when you are fighting a losing battle against your glut its a great recipe to have in your arsenal.The addition of thyme to the recipe cuts the richness of the sauce and brings a lovely herby note to the dish.

What you need 

• Courgettes - thinly sliced
• Mushrooms - finely chopped
• Olive oil
• Creme fraiche
• Fresh thyme - chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Parmesan cheese - freshly grated
• Pasta - we used penne

What you do

• Put your pasta on to cook in boiling water
• Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the courgettes gently until softened and they are slightly golden
• Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and continue to cook until the mushroom are tender
• Add creme fraiche to the pan and if you want a looser sauce a little of the pasta cooking water, add the fresh picked thyme 
• Season with pepper
• Remove from heat and toss in the drained pasta
• Serve topped with freshly grated parmesan and more freshly ground pepper.

I am also entering this post in Lavender and Lovage's Cooking with Herbs Challenge 

                                      

Haddock Gratin

We love fish here at Lancashire Food and like to experiment with different ways of cooking it. I currently have a great store of fish in my freezer (from Delish Fish) so we love to come up with new easy ways of cooking it.

 

This dish requires no great skill and is a great standby recipe made with store cupboard ingredients which is suitable for all the family, ideal if you need a quick supper dish, what's all important is the quality and freshness of the fish. Your supplier or fishmonger should be able to skin and de bone your fish for you.

Ingredients

• Fillet of fish per person, I used haddock (skinless and boneless)
• Cheddar cheese grated - 100g per fillet
• Dijon mustard - 1 tsp per fillet
• Crème fraiche - 2 tbsp. per fillet
• 6 Baby cherry tomatoes per fillet - sliced in half
• Freshly picked thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Preheat your oven to 170c
• Very lightly oil a baking dish the appropriate size for your fish fillets
• Place the fish fillets in the bottom of the dish
• In a separate bowl, toss the tomato halves with the thyme and some freshly ground pepper
• In another bowl mix the Dijon mustard, crème fraiche and grated cheese, spoon this on top of the fillets in the baking dish and spread out
• Serve with a fresh green salad or green vegetables.

 

Fresh handmade tagliatelle and tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes and creme fraiche

We are so happy to be invited to take part in a one off return of #BoothsCheers for the launch of Booths family of won label Italian wines. The selection includes a Chanti, Gavi Gavi, Pinot Grigio and a Prosecco all carefully sourced for the finest Italian vineyards by Booths.

We have devised this quick supper dish to perfectly complement the Pinot Grigio which is delicious chilled, the slight acidity of the wine perfectly cutting the creamy edge to the tomato sauce. The pasta of course is homemade using our homelaid eggs.

Pasta Ingredients ( per portion)

• 100g pasta flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• splash of water 

Pasta Method

• Sieve your flour and salt onto your work surface making a volcano crater like hole in the middle for your egg(s)
• Drop your egg(s) in to the hole

• Mix with your fingers until you have combined all the egg and have a soft sticky dough
• Knead this for about 5-7 minutes
• Leave to rest for approx 15 - 20 minutes , wrapped loosely in cling or a plastic bag, divide the dough by half to ease rolling out.
• If you don't have a pasta machine then you are now going to roll the pasta out manually, roll up your sleeve and flour your work surface well, Roll out until very thin and you can see a tea towel through the rolled out dough. 
• If using a pasta machine then put the dough through the machine on each setting approximately 5 /6 times, until the dough is smooth and very thin.

• Now leave the dough to dry for 10 minutes or so, on a clean  tea towel

• Cut the pasta into your desired shapes, I used my machine to make tagliatelle

• Toss in flour or polenta until ready to cook

• Cook by adding to boiling salted water , the pasta is cooked when it rises to the top of the water
• Drain and do as the italian's do and tosh the pasta with the sauce in the pan
• Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 clove of garlic - crushed
• 1 tin of tomatoes - crushed
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 3 tbsp creme friache
• 1 tbsp sun dried tomatoes - chopped
• Flat leaf parsley - chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil or oil off sun dried tomatoes
• Splash balsamic vinegar

Sauce Method

• Heat a little oil in a saucepan and gently fry the garlic until lightly golden
• Add the tin of tomatoes and the tomato puree to the pan, cook on a gentle simmer for 5 minutes
• Next add the sun dried tomatoes and the splash of balsamic
• Cook for a couple of minutes longer, remove from heat and stir in the creme fraiche and parsley
• Bring back to hot , but don't boil as your creme fraiche may split.
• Taste for seasoning and dress the pasta.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan and a glass of #BoothsCheers Pinot Grigio