Think lemon meringue pie, but green. Crumbly pastry underneath, thinly golden crised meringue on top, soft gooseberry curd mixing into just cooked meringue in the middle.
This was the second attempt at making and using a sweet shortcrust pastry, and while it worked out, I'm still not that happy with it. More practice needed, I think. It's a shame gooseberries have such a short season.
Labels:
3chimneys,
dessert,
gooseberries,
pastry
This was supposed to be a warm salad of scallops and duck, but the recipe did say that you could use many different combinations. I had hoped to use smoked duck, but ended up with smoked venison instead. The scallops unfortunately weren't fresh ones, but the frozen ones seemed to be fine. I did try to make sure they were well dried before being cooked.
I don't usually make dressings to go with my salads, but since this salad was acting as the whole meal, and the book required it, I used the orange, honey and grainy mustard dressing. It's mixed with hazelnut oil, and the whole combination is really delicious. Might have to start making dressings for salads in future.
Back to desserts for this one, and something nice and simple after last week's kitchen panic (although it did taste good). Groset is just a Scots dialect word for gooseberry, so this week I was making gooseberry fool. Stew some gooseberries with a little sugar and elderflower cordial until soft. Purée them, then pass through a sieve. Whip cream, with a little more elderflower cordial, until stiff-ish. Fold in gooseberry puree to taste. Spoon into glasses. I had some puree left over, so I layered it with the fool in the glasses.
Labels:
3chimneys,
cream,
dessert,
fool,
gooseberries
Well, this one was a lot more hassle than it needed to be. Let's start with ingredients. Most of them, just fine. The lamb? Getting a piece of trimmed off-the-bone loin of lamb is no problem - if you can get to a butcher, and he has it, and he's willing to accept your I-don't-really-know-what-I'm-asking-for-ness. Which I couldn't. So, nearest available substitute from the supermarket then - lamb loin chops.
Next problem - wild garlic. The title of the dish is actually supposed to be grilled loin of lamb with barley risotto and wild garlic gravy. I wouldn't know wild garlic if I tripped over it, and I don't think it's in season now anyway. So, since the book does say that it's possible to substitute, I went for a red wine and redcurrant one, rather than wild garlic and Madeira.
The theory of how to put the dish together seemed simple enough. Start the lamb marinading. Make the gravy. Make the risotto. Grill the lamb. Assemble on plate. The detail got a bit more complicated for me - much more than it needed to be.
I think that half my problem was that I didn't give myself enough time. With all of the chopping of various things for the gravy and the risotto, and various steps involved in making them, I think I underestimated the time it would take for each thing, and overestimated the amount I could do in parallel. Lesson? When doing something this complicated for the first time, study the recipe in detail, get all your stuff chopped and ready to go before you start, and always give yourself more time that you think you'll need.
Will I make this again? Probably. But without the gravy.
Left it until quite late to decide what I was going to make this week. In the end, I went for one of the simplest things possible: cranachan. How simple? Toast some oatmeal and leave to cool. Take double cream. Add whisky and honey. Whisk until as firm as you want it. Fold in most of the oatmeal. Pile into glasses with raspberries. Sprinkle remaining oatmeal on top.
The one major ingredient purchase this required for me? Whisky. The local supermarket has a limited selection. I think I took quite a while to make my decision. Yes, it has the one that really should be used for this (and the other whisky-using recipes in the book) - Talisker. But it's expensive (well, relatively). Can I justify buying it? There's half bottles there of other whiskies that are probably just as good. Yes, but they're not Skye whiskies. And back and forth I went. Yes, I did buy the Talisker. How could I not?
