Ripe for the picking: Mark Hix cooks with blackberries

The hedgerows are bursting with juicy blackberries – perfect for puddings and a secret ingredient for seasonal cocktails

Saturday 04 September 2010 00:00 BST
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I've seen more bramblers out this year than ever before. Are they serious foragers – or are they just adding interest to what seems to me the dull pastime of taking long walks? Perhaps these bad economic times are encouraging more people out to gather the late-summer berries. Either way, more of us are discovering the real flavours of the fruits of the hedgerow – as opposed to those big, fat, juicy-looking things imported by our supermarkets, fruits that usually turn out to be sour as hell. Farmed berries also bear little resemblance, in either appearance or taste, to our wild fruit. While humble blackberries may not be as attractive as strawberries and raspberries, they can be gathered for free, and there are endless ways to use them in the kitchen.

They're perfect, of course, for delicious puddings, but blackberries also make fantastic cocktails – you'll see them on the list at the bar at my Soho restaurant!

Blackberry and apple meringues

Serves 4

These are great dinner-party desserts that can be knocked up well in advance and assembled at the last minute. They look very impressive, thanks to the bulky-yet-light meringue. If you know where to buy good, ready-made meringues, you can cheat; when making your own, the secret is to get them slightly gooey in the middle.

For the meringue

3 egg whites
100g caster sugar
1tsp cornflour
1tsp white wine vinegar

For the apple purée

1 large bramley or cooking apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
2tbsp caster sugar

To serve

100ml whipped cream
200g blackberries

Preheat the oven to 120C/gas mark 1. In a mixing machine with a whisk attachment, or by hand (though this will take quite a while), whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the caster sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is really stiff and shiny.

Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk again for about 30 seconds. On a clean baking tray lined with either silicone or greaseproof paper, spoon the mixture on in the shape of 4 round domes, making an indentation with the back of the spoon in the middle of each. Alternatively, you can also just make one big meringue.

Cook in the oven for 1 hours so the meringue is crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, but don't let the outside colour – you want it nice and white. You may need to cook it a little longer, depending on your oven. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, put the apple in a saucepan with the sugar and cook on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring as it's cooking until it's almost a purée. Put to one side and leave to cool. Blend half of the blackberries in a liquidiser until smooth, then strain through a fine-meshed sieve.

To serve, fold the whipped cream into the apple purée and spoon this mixture into the cavity of the meringue. Scatter over the blackberries and spoon the sauce around and over.

Somerset blackberry and apple sour

Serves 4

I decided to take August off and have a bit of time by the seaside in the sun, do a bit of fishing; of course it rained and was foggy most of the time. So I decided to knock up a cocktail. I have some crab apples (or they may even be old cider apples) that fall into my garden and the blackberries are everywhere. This is a take on the whiskey sour, one of my favourites.

For the apple syrup

300g crab apples, washed
2tbsp caster sugar or more depending on the apples
4 or 8 good measures of Somerset cider brandy
20 or so blackberries
The juice of 2 lemons
1 egg white
Ice cubes

Put the crab apples into a saucepan with the sugar and a cup of water, bring to the boil and cook on a medium heat for about 6-7 minutes, until the apples get soft. Blend briefly in a liquidiser, then strain through a fine-meshed sieve. The syrup should be quite sweet but still taste of apple – if it needs more, just dissolve some more caster sugar in the syrup.

Reserve 8 plump blackberries and put the rest in a bowl with the cider brandy. Whisk a few times to break the fruit up, then leave to infuse for 30 minutes; strain through a fine-meshed sieve.

To serve, put the cider brandy in a cocktail shaker with 4 tablespoons of the apple syrup, the lemon juice and the egg white, half fill it with ice cubes and shake well for a minute. Strain into glasses onto a few more ice cubes, or serve it straight with a couple of blackberries in the glass and a straw.

Blackberry Bakewell pudding

Makes one 20cm pudding

A take on the famous Bakewell pudding – not to be confused with the Bakewell tart. This is rather like a French clafoutis and is best eaten not too long after being baked.

150g puff pastry
250g butter, melted
1 egg, beaten, plus 7 extra egg yolks
250g caster sugar
1tbsp ground almonds
Flaked almonds to serve
Ice-cream or thick cream to serve

For the blackberry jam

400g blackberries
3tbsp caster sugar

First, make the blackberry jam. Put half of the blackberries in a thick-bottomed pan with the sugar and boil for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every so often until the blackberries have become more or less a purée. Add the rest of the blackberries and cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Roll the pastry out to a thickness of about 1/3cm and prick it all over with a fork, then use it to line a 20 x 3cm deep, preferably sloping-sided, tart tin (I use an ovenproof non-stick frying pan which is as close to the original as I can get). Leave to rest for 1 hour in the fridge.

Meanwhile, mix the butter, egg and yolks with the sugar and almonds, and stir over a pan of simmering water for 3-4 minutes until it reaches a honey-like consistency.

Spoon the jam into the base, then pour the filling on top and scatter with the almonds. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the filling just set. If it's browning too much, turn the oven down halfway through.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with ice-cream or cream.

Widgeon salad with bramble dressing

Serves 4

Widgeon is a member of the wild duck family. You could also use wild ducks, or any game bird you can get your hands on. Don't ditch the carcasses – as you can use them to make game soup.

2 oven-ready widgeon
A couple of knobs of butter, softened
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into 1cm cubes
100g or so of girolles or other wild mushrooms
60g cob nuts, shelled weight
Vegetable or corn oil for frying
A couple of handfuls of small, flavoursome salad leaves and herbs

For the bramble dressing

6-8 blackberries
1tbsp cider vinegar
4tbsp rapeseed oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First make the dressing: crush the blackberries up in a bowl with a fork, then whisk in the vinegar and oil; season. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, then push through a sieve with the back of a spoon.

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7, season the widgeon and rub the breasts with butter. Roast for about 15 minutes, keeping them nice and pink; leave to rest. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a dry pan for a few minutes until crisp, then transfer to some kitchen paper. Lightly toast the cob nuts. Melt the rest of the butter in the same pan and gently cook the girolles for 3-4 minutes, seasoning them as they cook.

To serve, remove the breasts from the carcass, cut into 6 or 7 slices and shred any meat from the legs. Arrange the leaves on 4 plates with the widgeon, bacon, cob nuts and girolles; spoon over the dressing.

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