SUMMER 2020

The upside of being at home more is being around to pick the blackberries from the brambles that cascade over the wall by my studio from the next-door neighbours garden. They are fat and juicy and utterly delicious (the blackberries, not the neighbours), but my goodness, I have to be quick, this patch is coveted by local jam makers. Fortunately the joy of next door’s overgrown garden is that by next summer, I think the brambles will be dangling into my garden. I won’t be competing with the jam-makers then!

This recipe for Blackberry Ice Cream is borrowed from waitrose.com (having an ice cream maker definitely helps but you could just diligently stir it). Find yourself a patch of brambles and get going.

INGREDIENTS [makes enough ice cream for 4 large or 8 small bowls]

500ml x whole milk
500ml x double cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
600g x blackberries
190g x caster sugar
10 x egg yolks
2½tbsp x lemon juice
good pinch flaky sea salt

METHOD

1 • Start by putting all the milk and cream in a saucepan (use a heavy bottomed pan if you have one) together with the vanilla pod and bring it gently to the boil. Once it reaches boiling point, take it off the heat and set it aside for the vanilla to infuse into the milky-cream, leave it for about 15 minutes..

2 • Next, squash the blackberries with 2x tbsp of the caster sugar and set this aside too.

3 • Then whisk the egg yolks (all 10 of them….oh my goodness!) and the remaining sugar in a large bowl until thick and pale yellow.

4 • Once the milky-cream is cooler, remove the vanilla pod from the pan and carefully scrape the seeds back in. Then, slowly bring it back to the boil, just as the bubbles break on the surface take it off the heat, leave for 1 minute and then whisk into the beaten egg yolks and sugar until fully combined (- wash the saucepan so that it’s clean and ready for the next step.)

continued…

5 • Now pour the custard mixture into the clean pan and place over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon, this will take probably 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool completely.

6 • Whilst you’re waiting for the custard to cool purée the macerated blackberries in a food processor until smooth and then push through a sieve, extracting and discarding as much liquid and as many seeds as possible.

7 • When the custard is cool, fold the blackberry purée into the cooled custard and stir in the lemon juice and salt.

8 • Lastly, pour the liquid into your ice cream maker and churn until thick. Enjoy with fresh blackberries and almond biscuits.