Our week that was: Family weekend, sand spray and fruit picking

We had a visit from Justin’s sister this weekend; it’s been in the diary for ages, and we’ve been really looking forward to having her come to see us again.

Rachel’s visit

Rachel lives in Greater Manchester – a 4-hour drive away. She’s the one we stay with when we have our dentist appointments up in Todmorden, so we’re taking our turn in acting as hosts! We’ve been keeping our fingers & toes crossed for good weather while she was here. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but we did manage to enjoy a few dry and sunny spells when we were out walking.

We took her to the nearby Hafod Estate as she’d not been there before. We cobbled a walk together that took us through steep woodland, fields with highland cattle grazing and above and along the winding river Ystwyth.

Another trip to the coast

Whenever she’s visited in the past, Rachel has enjoyed going for a walk along the beach. So, even though the forecast wasn’t great, we took a drive out to Ynyslas. As usual, we timed it so we would be there at low tide; the dog went completely bonkers, galloping along the long, wide sandy expanse.

Although it was really windy, there was a great, big, blue sky. It was so windy, in fact, that there was sand spray all the way along the beach; that’s how the famous sand dunes were formed!

Blackberry picking

The local hedgerows are currently heaving under the weight of blackberries. They’re like little glistening jewels crying out to be plucked and made into jam, jelly or apple & blackberry pie or crumble. I’ve already picked around 2 kilos and have put them into the freezer while I decide how I’m going to use them.

Our week that was: Fruit, fungi and flowers

Fruit, fungi and flowers, I just can’t help myself with the alliteration! But the last 7 days has been a week of picking; both out in the wild and in the garden.

Free, foraged fruit

Summer fruit season has begun, and it’s a bumper year. I attribute that to the long, dry spell followed by the bountiful downpours. I’ve picked my full of bilberries and blackberries – and it’s not even August yet. About a kilo of blackberries is currently residing in our freezer, and I’ve made a delicious fruit sponge pudding with the bilberries. I used my go-to upside-down cake recipe that works with almost any fruit.

Field fungi

Our Instragram feed has been lit up with photos of people’s fungi foraging exploits. We set out specially this week to one of our mushroom picking spots, in search of chanterelles. Alas, not a single one was to be found – perhaps in a couple of months time (which is when we’ve previously scored ourselves a paper bag full of the delicious mushrooms). I did, however, find and pick my first parasol mushroom of the season – it’s currently sliced and drying nicely in the kitchen.

Favourite flowers

Only a couple of years ago, our hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ was a half dead little thing sitting in the bargain box at a local garden centre. She consisted of 3 spindly little sticks and looked extremely sorry for herself. This year, she’s standing tall, proud and strong; producing a profusion of stems and blooms. We’ve put a handful of them in a white ironstone jug to enjoy indoors right now. A few other stems have been picked and are hanging upside-down, drying to display later on in the year.

Cakes & Bakes: Apple & blackberry pie

Every year around this time we are given a bucketful of home-grown apples from the neighbour of Justin’s parents. Because they’re generally tiny and malformed I’ve usually turned them into apple cheese (no peeling, no coring).

There were about half a dozen biggish ones this year, so I combined them with some of the remaining bramble offerings that I had stored in the freezer and made an apple & blackberry pie. I may have confessed in some previous post that I’m not the greatest pastry maker – but I was going to give it another go!

Apple & blackberry pie

Print recipe Pin recipe

Cook Time 30

Total Time 30

Ingredients

For the pastry
350 g/12oz plain flour
80 g/3oz butter or margarine cubed
pinch of salt
4-5 tbs cold water
For the filling
450 g/1lb apples about 4 medium-sized apples
225 g/½lb blackberries
100 g/3½oz granulated sugar
For the glaze
3 tbs milk
25 g/1oz caster sugar

Instructions

Start by making the pastry. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, holding the sieve up as high as possible to give the flour an airing
Add the cubed butter/margarine to the flour
Using your fingertips, lightly & gently rub the pieces of fat into the flour, lifting your hands up high as you do this (again, to incorporate as much air as you can) and being as quick as possible
When the mixture looks uniformly crumbly, start to sprinkle roughly 4 tablespoons of cold water all over
Use a pastry blender or round-bladed knife to start the mixing
Carefully add more water as needed, a little at a time, then finally bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth ball of dough that will leave the bowl clean (if there are any bits won't adhere to it, you need a spot more water)
Divide the ball of dough in half and make 2 smaller balls
Put the balls into a zip-lock bag or wrap in cling film or foil and put them in the fridge for half an hour while you prepare the filling
At this point, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
Wash & drain the blackberries and peel & slice the apples into 1cm chunks. Mix them together and set aside until the pastry is ready to come out of the fridge
Lightly grease a pie/flan dish (I save my butter wrappers for just this job!)
Take one of the balls of pastry from the fridge and roll it out so that it's about 4cm/2 inches wider than the pie dish
Carefully lift the rolled out pastry onto the pie dish using your rolling pin. Press the pastry down gently into the pie and up the sides
Spoon the apples & blackberries onto the pastry and sprinkle the granulated sugar on top
Take out the other ball of pastry from the fridge and roll it out so that it is large enough to form a lid on the pie
Using a pastry brush, dampen the edge of the bottom pastry case with water
Fix the pastry lid into position pressing it very firmly all round
Trim the edges with a knife
You can use these trimmings to make shapes to decorate the top of the pie - just affix them with a little brushing of water
Brush the top of the pie with a little milk then sprinkle on a dusting of caster sugar which will give a crisp surface when the pie is baked
Make a small hole in the centre of the pie for steam to escape
Put the pie on to a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes
Allow to cool a little on a wire rack, slice and serve
Serve with a little cream, vanilla ice cream or just on its own - although I think it's gorgeous with a dollop of clotted cream!

Tools: 20-22cm pie dish, pastry blender (optional), pastry brush

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: blackberries