we took off east last week to go in search of blackberries again after our meagre pickings out west the previous week..as soon as we arrived at the spot i had in mind we spied the burgeoning bushes..in a short amount of time we filled our containers and we could have continued to pick an almost unlimited amount but we were constrained by a lack of containers and the heat..i've eaten quite a few of the 3 kilos i picked, made a blackberry syrup, frozen about half a kilo and today i made a blackberry clafoutis..
blackberry clafoutis
tea with hazel
tea with hazel
ingredients
350 gms blackberries
330 mls milk
60 gms cooled melted butter
60 gms plain flour
80 gms sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
extra butter
1 tablespoon extra sugar
method
~ heat oven to 180 deg c
~ butter a 2 litre oven proof shallow dish
~ place berries in the baking dish
~ beat eggs, add flour and butter, and beat well until flour incorporated
~ mix in vanilla, milk and sugar
~ strain mix over berries
~ cook for 30 minutes
~ sprinkle with extra sugar and continue to bake until the top is browned and the custard is just set (mine took 10 more minutes)
serving
serve warm
i served it with a spoon of double cream and a drizzle of chambord
note
i don't like clafoutis too heavy or sweet so i have adapted my recipe over time to suit my preferences
note
i don't like clafoutis too heavy or sweet so i have adapted my recipe over time to suit my preferences
I hestitate to share this comment (there are spies EVERYWHERE) but I have found the motherload sight to pick blackberries not 10 metres away from our front gate, a place where NO-ONE goes! I was dangling precariously to try to avail myself of some fennel seed (wild) the other day, as I have decided that my food forest needs a nice fragrant bee attractant understory, when my poor long suffering husband mentioned to me that rather than fall down a 5 metre embankment into the Tamar River (Tassie), I should wait till low tide and just walk along the small pebble beach to get to the fennel and get some that way...a headpalm moment if EVER I had one...we headed out to check the status of the seed heads (I got 1 but lots more to come) and we noted that the entire bank was covered with blackberry bushes that were overly abundantly covered in fruit in all stages of ripeness...I picked a large bag of them (while the long suffering stood with our 2 restless dogs in the heat of the day...mad dogs and Englishmen ;) ) and it suddenly dawned on me that rather than have a bag full that I might, or might not be able to make your gorgeous clafouti with (tempting indeed!)...I may be able to head down there at low tide every couple of days and pick enough blackberries to make a decent batch of blackberry wine! New drunken possibilities have opened up and I am keeping shtum about the site of my newfound wealth of blackberries. Although I will share with the local birds (begrudgingly...) there are more than enough readily accessible fruits for the rest of Sidmouth to hunt and these babies are MINE! After that rambling monologue I have to say I LOVE your website. I only found it recently and anyone who loves tea as much as I do has to be someone that deserves my avid attention. Cheers for a great site, an even greater recipe (that I might have to donate my sporadic strawberry crop to as the blackberries are most definately earmarked for drunken consumption futures...) and a great ethos :). The flip side of blackberry hunting is looking like you did 10 rounds with one of the long nailed Kardashian sisters but as good old Newton once said "every action has an equal and opposite reaction"... ;)
ReplyDeletethanks trts for your lovely comments..fancy having blackberries so close to home..sounds like a great idea to wait for low tide and avoid the embankment..and yes..blackberry picking does have its thorny downside but it's worth it! jane
DeleteThis sounds delicious! I am rather partial to blackberries myself!
ReplyDeletethanks tammy..when they're free they taste even better! jane
DeleteAnother one for the list. I have complete faith in your recipes ;) thanks (you can cancel the other on on the wrong post)Oops!
ReplyDeleteknowing your foraging prowess wcd you'll get heaps in summer..x j
DeleteGorgeous Jane. I think I saw blackberries for sale for $7 the other day, 125g...eek! You're very lucky :-)
ReplyDeletei know brydie..my friend and i reckoned that the 6 kilos of berries we picked at $5/125 gms would have been worth about $240..and that's only the monetary value!
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