Monday 12 September 2011

Blackberry Compote - Also almost free!


The BBC Good Food magazine arrived around Wednesday and by Thursday night I had a stash of this compote frozen! Apart from being very messy – please wear an apron and protect any white surfaces – its super easy to make, requires no cooking and is a great use for a glut of blackberries!


Once I’d made the mixture, I filled 3 silicon icecube trays with it, then once they were frozen solid, quickly transferred into a sealable food bag, thus therefore taking up less room up in the freezer. If you are more organised you could take it out the night before, and eat with your chosen breakfast. Or alternatively if like me organisation is a fleeting fashion, simply place some of the cubes in a ramekin and put in microwave on the defrost function for about 20 seconds! The compote tastes really fruity and so fresh, and it makes a lovely addition to your porridge or muesli. Having bright purple muesli makes a very colourful start to the day! The magazine also recommends using it as a filling for some very lovely sounding apple scones, which I am planning to make soon!  



Blackberry Compote 

700g blackberries, halved
100g golden caster sugar – I didn’t have any in, and was horrified at how expensive its become (or maybe I just looked for first time?!) so, I used half caster sugar and half light soft brown sugar from existing stocks instead
Juice of half a lemon – I forgot to buy and substituted with the squeezy lemon stuff
Small pinch of cinnamon, optional – I added it

Firstly, if the thought of halving 700g blackberries puts you off, don’t let it. I just scattered a big handful on a board, got my biggest knife and hacked away! Place 2/3rds of them in a food processor, with the sugar, lemon and cinnamon, blitz to a smooth puree, then fold in the remaining unblitzed blackberries and use within two days, or freeze. 

The real bonus of the recipe is that by picking the fruit yourself, it works out very cheap and you also have a lovely touch of smugness in that you know exactly where the fruit came from!

This recipe also follows up from my recent posting on Apple Curd - I had a lot of both cooking apples and blackberries and also made another one of my Apple and Blackberry cakes and a vat of Apple and Blackberry pie filling, which has been frozen for a later date!. So many treats for minimum effort and cost!

Happy foraging!

4 comments:

  1. I love blackberries and what a great way to make the most of them :-)

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  2. Lovely! We have so few blackberries round here this year - I'm not sure why. We've been out foraging but come back almost empty-handed. Unlike last year when I had so many I didn't know what to do with them.

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  3. Nearly free stuff is always good ;-) and this looks great. Good tip on the freezing in ice cube trays - much easier to use later!

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Thanks for stopping by my kitchen! I love to hear your thoughts and comments on my recipes!

Anne

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