bramble ice cream


-- Ingredients
blackberries - 1 Pound
double or whipping cream - 1 Pint
sugar - ¼ to ½ Pound


--Steps
whizz and sieve the berries
mix the juice & sugar
whisk the cream into soft falling peaks
fold ingredients together
spoon into a carton
half freeze (about 3 hours)
whisk again, add a few whole berries, and wait...


Bramble time is here again! I’ve tried various recipes over the years: crumbles, pies, juice, jelly and jam, but when I was on my holidays this year I came across some blackberry ice cream which was so nice I decided to try making some myself, luckily it was easy, the trickiest part being the waiting around.

Ruchita, which was previously known as Dhanshirry, and still has the same menu and plates, was awarded a food hygiene certificate in June 2009, and has its own tandoor oven, and so offers good naan, chicken, and lamb dishes.

City View, which is part of the catering school in the Shooters Hill Post 16 campus on Red Lion Lane, also holds a current food hygiene award (which surprisingly few eateries in greenwich achieved), and offers an ever changing and very fancy menu for relatively low prices – the only down side of going there is the walk of shame past all the smoking youngsters by the front gates, plus they only take cash, or at least that was the case when I visited a year ago.

The Red Lion and Bull pubs also got their food hygiene certificates, and only one of eleven eateries on Herbert Road did not get their award, Herbert Best Kebabs, and that was in mid January 2009, so hopefully things have improved there.

Sweet Chestnut from Oxleas Woods

In just a few prickly minutes, my pockets were full, and before long the nostalgic aroma of roasting chestnuts filled the kitchen (luckily this wasn’t joined by the sound of explosions as they had their tips cut off before going under the grill), I also saved a few to plant in pots. Italian chestnuts, which are about twice the size, are also in season, and can be bought in the run up to Christmas; and the west-end chestnut sellers will probably be setting up their little fires around this time.

I’m now looking forward to the first frost, which will be the cue to make sheperdleas sloe gin, this time of year is also a busy one for fungi, who make a strong showing in Oxleas Woods in autumn, especially on the lower, damper slopes, although I’m not really sure which ones are poisonous/hallucinogenic/inedible/edible, perhaps the rangers might be able to answer this kind of question on one of their parkland rambles.

On the plus side, the weather conditions this year have led to a bumper crop of wild blackberries, I have never seen so many on the hill, and whilst still a bit sharp tasting, and with sharp thorns for protection – I had a go at my first blackberry and apple pie of the summer today, and it goes like this:

1. several handfuls of wild blackberries, washed to flush out insects (no pesticides then, could be organic).
2. the same amount of apple slices.
3. a pie dish.
4. sugar to take the sharp edge off the berries (if they are really sweet then this could be skipped).
5. pastry as you like it, I just mixed together 5 Oz butter with 4 Oz of plain flour and 2 tbsp water for 30 secs, and then added another 4 Oz flour to make the pastry for rolling out on top.
6. bake for 20 minutes at 200º celcius, then about another 20 at 180º.

With this year’s yields looking so promising, i’m hoping to make jam next.