Adventures for Blackberries

How do I introduce my blog? Well, I love food, I think it is entirely possible to eat really well on a small budget, and most importantly of all, I think that good food can, is, and should be the cornerstone of any social gatherings, from meeting up with a friend you've not seen for ages, through to huge parties celebrating important occasions.

Anyway, on Saturday four of us decided to find our way into the wasteland that our houses back on to to pick blackberries. It's the site of an old, now demolished mill factory, and, we think, owned by the university. It's seperated by a wall that is at least 6 ft down from the back yards, but there is an open gate at one side which was the way we went in this time. We had to fight through some huge patches of nettles and climb around the trees to get to the brambles, but boy was it worth it.

I love blackberries. Seriously love them. And the ones on the wasteland are magnificent specimens. Away from busy roads - so not full of pollution, and on truly uncultivated land, so no pesticides. There are masses, just begging to be picked. Four of us within one hour had picked more than enough to make a load of Blackberry wine (which I left Joe in charge of as I have never made wine before). I can't give you a recipe for the wine, although I do know it required 1.8 kg of backberries and 900g of sugar. The rest Vic turned into blackberry and apple crumble. The wine is now bubbling slowly away, and should be ready to bottle on Wednesday afternoon, and ready to drink in a few months.

Cat and I (but in fairness, mostly Cat) turned our hand to a risotto made from whatever we had in the fridge. As it happened, we had a fine selection of ingredients, and the following was born:


Cat's Smoked Salmon, Rocket and Parmesan Risotto

Slice an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Fry gently in olive oil. Stir in enough risotto (arborio) rice for four people. Meanwhile, make at least a pint and a half of vegetable stock. I like Marigold Vegetable Boullion powder, which most supermarkets have these days. Add the water about half a pint at a time, and simmer, stirring regularly so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add more water as it gets absorbed. Add a handful of sliced green beans and a large handful of sliced button mushrooms. If the rice is still hard, continue to add more boiling water a little at a time until it is tender.

My tip at this point is to turn the heat off, place a clean tea towel over the pan and then put the lid on. The towel seals the pan and keeps the heat and steam in. Leave it for about 10 or 15 minutes, and the rice will have absorbed a little more liquid (the bit that always just seems too thick and sticky and starts burning if you carry on cooking without constant vigorous stirring) and be less sticky. If you really don't like sticky risotto you could rinse the rice before cooking as well (but drain it really well) to wash off some of the starch.

Once the risotto has stood for a while, remove the lid, season with plenty of black pepper, stir in 2 huge handfuls of rocket, plenty of fresh shaved parmeson and a little sliced smoked salmon. Dish up immediately, before the salmon cooks. We served it with a little more rocket and salmon on top. Gotta make it look pretty.

Enjoy.