Local harvest

[shewhomust]

I made a recipe!

I often grumble about the Guardian's 'Feast' section. Yes, I know, the entire readership grumbles about the number of ingredients in Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes, but my grumble is different, it is that it pays constant attention to those following a gluten-free, or meat-free, or exclusively plant-based, or even just low-fat diet. It even has regular recommendations for alcohol-free wines and cocktails. But it never acknowledges that some of us -- rather a lot of us - have problems with sugar. Every week there are recipes for high-sugar desserts and cakes, and some of them are very tempting.

Ahem.

So I made Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for blackberry and sage crumble bars. durham_rambler has been picking a lot of blackberries, and this seemed worth a try before the season ended. I managed to get some fresh sage while we were at the farm shop: they don't sell herbs, but they do grow them, to flavour the sausages, and parted with a generous sprig when asked.

The verdict, short version: I would make it again, but I'd try some changes.

• I'd been cautious with the sage, which can be a very emphatic flavour. It could take a little more.


• Also, since I use unsalted butter, I should probably have added a little salt.


• I was a bit nervous about the quantities, which seemed very large - but I had the quantity of blackberries specified, and my square cake tin must be about the right size,so I went for it. This made a very solid base; perhaps I pressed it down too firmly.


• Or perhaps a slightly larger baking tray would be better? The recipe says it makes 12, and I certainly didn't slice it that small; but then, I was nervous it would crumble if the slices were too small, and in fact that wasn't a problem, it cut very neatly.


• Slices to eat cold (warm might haave been better), slices in the freezer (we'll see how that goes), slices cold with hot custard for dinner tonight (looking forward to it).


• I don't know what the recipe means by 'oats', but I used pinhead oatmeal, and that worked fine.


• The fruit topping was quite wet, and left a small puddle on the work surface when I added it to the base (the tin has a removable base). But it seems to have behaved itself in the oven.

Also at the farm shop, I found a small quantity of damsons, which I stewed with the last of the plums; but I could have tried them in this fruit bake.

Comments

[cmcmck]

They never seem to recall that some of us (rather a lot of us actually- it's the second most common food allergy after peanuts) are allergic to eggs either.

[shewhomust]

I didn't know that - that it's so widespread, I mean. At least it's covered by 'vegan', though at the price of excluding a lot of other things!

[anef]

Sounds lovely. I would have guessed rolled oats, but that doesn't get you through the rubbing in stage. I haven't seen any nice blackberries, this year, post drought (well, I say post but it hasn't rained that much since). The ones I've seen all look very sour and manky.

[shewhomust]

That's what deterred me from using eolled oats - especially as mine are the jumbo, heavy duty variety.