Tutti Frutti

Summer fruit, flavours and our Scottish highlights

A huge thank you to you all for reading this every week and for all the lovely messages I got last week, you are wonderful and thanks for being here. It’s non-stop here with beautiful fruit and trying out juicy, delicious flavour combinations; we’ve fruit from the garden and far away, fruit gifted from friends and swapped with bread from neighbours.  Our raspberries in the garden did a bit better this year and I got a handful of gooseberries, but all the currants were stolen by the naughty chickens.  Next week we’ll get our first delivery of this year’s harvest of beautiful blueberries from County Clare.  We’ve Spanish apricots and peaches, English cherries, Armagh strawberries and Aghadowey blackcurrants.  We are spoilt.

Delicious Cherries

There is excitement in the bakery as we taste test daily, with flavours changing depending on what we have picked or been gifted.  We consider how best to showcase these delicious fruits with what goes well from the countryside to complement them.  We are using rose petals, honeysuckle, fig leaves and herbs and also have a couple of curveballs like berberris darwinii. Right now, Meadowsweet is having its moment; it makes a delicious crème pat with a sort of almondy vanilla flavour and it grows everywhere around here.  We have made infused custards, sugars, jams, oils, parfait, ice cream and purees.  We’ve pastry and cake combinations to highlight the best flavours and textures and we never get bored; in fact, there’s not enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do. It’s also fleeting so there’s no time to waste, maybe that’s why I feel a little rushed this week!

Berberris Dawinii and blackcurrant leaf syrup

Sometimes it’s tricky to get all this excitement and description across to each and every customer, especially on busy Saturday mornings when the queue is never ending.  I wish we could have more time with everyone; to describe our ingredients and processes, our passion is infectious. But often people may come away just having enjoyed a delicious pastry and maybe it’s ok that they don’t know every amazing ingredient, the technique and skill to make it, the gatherings from the garden or countryside.  It can be a bit of an essay for our amazing front of house staff!

Fruit is art!

Make sure to get out there and pick fruit if you can (eating as you go), I noticed suburban raspberries ripening to waste ready to be pilfered and if you’re lucky enough to live near the countryside look out for the wild bounty of bilberries, wild raspberries and strawberries.  It’s the time to be out and about and enjoying the lush landscape, no matter the weather. And if it’s really soggy and dull bring a sunshiney peach and you’ll instantly feel better.

Perfect Apricot

Cherry Pie

This pie can go with you in your picnic bag, or out to the garden, to be enjoyed outside, barefoot and appreciating the summer!

Pie Pastry

125g Wholegrain Einkorn Flour

100g plain flour

150g cold butter

75ml ice cold water

Pinch salt

Put both flours in a large mixing bowl.  Get a sheet of greaseproof paper and put the butter in the middle and fold over the top, bash quickly and firmly with a rolling pin until about 5mm thick. Set into the flour and coat both sides then tear up into pieces, then start working with your fingertips and flick the butter through the flours, stop when you still have larger bran flake size pieces. Add the salt and mix through.  Add the water and using a scraper try and bring together in the bowl, tip onto work surface and using a rolling pin, roll out , it will start to come together as you roll, fold over and roll again, repeat, try not to squish together with your hands as this will melt your butter.  Once you’ve got it together in a rectangle of pastry, wrap in the greaseproof and chill for at least half an hour.

Crème Patissiere

250ml whole milk

3 egg yolks

60g caster sugar

Handful of rose petals

25g plain flour   

For assembly

250g fresh cherries, halved and stoned

Egg (for egg wash)

Tablespoon demerara sugar

Method

Pour the milk, half the sugar and the rose petals into a medium saucepan and put on a low to medium heat.  In a medium bowl whisk the yolks and the rest of the sugar with an electric whisk until thick and moussey, whisk in the flour.   By this time your milk should be starting to steam.  Pour half of the milk onto the egg mixture while whisking then add the rest, still whisking and put it all back into the saucepan.  Keep whisking over the heat until it starts to bubble and thicken.  Pour into a shallow dish and cover with cling reusable wrap making contact with the mix so it doesn’t form a skin. Chill until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

I used a rectangular tart tin but you could use a circular one.  Carefully roll out about two thirds of your pastry for the base, tease into the tin paying attention to the bottom, making sure the pastry is all the way into the edge.  Put in your crème pat followed by the cherries then top with the rest of the rolled out pastry, trim, eggwash and sprinkle with the sugar.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Leave to cool in tin.

Scotland highlights (West coast mainly)

• The Meeting of Three Waters and wild swimming in the river

• The drive through Glencoe and the chair lift

• The Ardnamurchan Peninsula, the community garden shop and Sanna Sands, a LONG drive

• Glen Etive

• Camusdarach Beach, Mallaig peninsula

• Dunkeld, a very pretty village with a great pub/restaurant The Taybank