Redcurrant ice cream

This week, Justin spent a few hours on our allotment picking kilos of redcurrants. When he got home, they immediately got decanted into plastic tubs and put into the freezer until I decided what I was going to do with them. In past years, our redcurrant haul has been turned into tarts, jelly, cordial and relish.

Seeing as the UK is in the midst of a mini-heatwave, there was only one thing for it – redcurrant ice cream.

Redcurrants make the most bright, beautiful pink swirly ripple ice cream with a sweet, tangy taste.

And best of all, you don’t need an ice cream maker and it’s only 3 ingredients! If you don’t have access to redcurrants, most other berries can be used in their place – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, blackcurrants… or a mixture of all of the above. The recipe below makes about 1 litre.

Redcurrant ice cream

Allrecipies

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 1 litre

Ingredients

500 g/17½oz redcurrants
100 g/3½oz caster sugar
300 ml/10½fl oz whipping cream

Instructions

Pre-chill a clean, dry plastic container in the freezer
Put the redcurrants in a colander/strainer, rinse under water and pat dry
In a medium-sized saucepan on a medium heat, cook the redcurrants until they have burst (about 5-10 minutes)
Strain the redcurrants through a fine sieve and combine with sugar to taste. Refrigerate
Whisk the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks
Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled redcurrant concentrate trying not to loose too much of the air
Pour into the pre-chilled container, cover and freeze until firm

Keyword ice cream, no churn ice cream, redcurrants

Redcurrant cordial

Our bumper crop of redcurrants from the allotment has so far gone into jelly and a tart.

Today I made a bottle of redcurrant cordial or vinbärssaft in Swedish (although when I ran the word through Google Translate it came up with ‘coleslaw’)!

A kilo of fruit only made about 600ml of cordial. It felt like a bit of a waste, disposing of all that fruit pulp.

But once I had that first taste, I felt that the profligacy was worth it.

It was fruity, tart and sweet, all at the same time – almost like cranberry juice but not at all dry. It’s delicious simply mixed with iced sparkling water, but can also be incorporated into cocktail recipes… and a dash in a glass of champagne is wonderful too!

Redcurrant cordial

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Course Drinks

Cuisine Scandinavian

Ingredients

1 kg/2.2lbs redcurrants
200 g/7oz granulated sugar

Instructions

Rinse & drain the de-stalked redcurrants in a colander
Put the redcurrants and sugar into a heavy-bottomed saucepan or jam pan
Put the pan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely
Using a wooden spoon or a potato masher, squash the fruit
Turn the heat up high and boil for about 5 minutes
Pour the redcurrants into a jelly bag and strain for about an hour
Decant into a sterilised 1 litre bottle
Once opened, keep refrigerated and consume within a week or two

Keyword cordial, redcurrants, vinbärssaft

Cakes & Bakes: Redcurrant mazarin tart

Last week, you’ll remember that I set aside a small bowlful of fresh redcurrants while I made the rest into jelly.

What I had in mind for this extra was to make a redcurrant mazarin tart using a recipe I found in Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking… Scandilicious by Signe Johansen.

It’s bit of a long-winded recipe to follow – the base, the almond paste (shop bought marzipan is much too hard) and the filling. But do give it a try, it’s worth the effort!

The amount of almond paste that’s produced is slightly over what is needed. I plan on rolling the leftovers into little balls and then dipping them in melted dark chocolate; perfect little after-dinner petits fours!

The original recipe doesn’t call for leaving the tart in the oven while it cools, but I found mine needed a bit of a longer cook and it also helped stop the centre from sinking under the weight of all that fruit.

The sweetness of the almond paste was a lovely match for the sourness of the redcurrants, balancing each other out. A little dollop of fraîche on the side is all you need to serve with it.

Pin the recipe here to try later!

Redcurrant mazarin tart

Signe Johansen

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Course Dessert

Cuisine Scandinavian

Ingredients

For the pastry base

200 g/7oz spelt or plain flour
100 g/3½ oz butter
50 g/2oz caster sugar
1 egg

For the almond paste

150 g/5oz ground almonds
200 g/7oz icing sugar
2 tsp almond extract
1 egg white

For the filling

340 g/12oz almond paste
100 g/3½ oz butter softened
100 g/3½ oz plain flour or cornflour
6 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
300 g/11oz redcurrants rinsed and de-stalked

Instructions

For the pastry

In a food processor, pulse the flour and butter together, or mix by hand in a large bowl, until it resembles breadcrumbs
Add in the sugar and then the egg, and continue to combine until the dough comes together
Cover the pastry with cling film and shape into a disc about 1cm/½ in thick
Put into the fridge for an hour, or the freezer for 20-30 minutes
Make the almond paste while you wait for the pastry to chill

For the almond paste

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar, almond extract and egg white into a food processor and combine until a thick ball of dough is formed
Turn the paste out onto a work surface and knead it a few times. Roll it into a log and wrap in cling film until you're ready to make the filling
Any unused paste will keep for a month in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer

For the pastry pt II

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5
Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is about 3mm/⅛ in thick (or as thin as you can roll it before it starts to crack) and about 30cm/12in in diameter
Lift the rolled pastry into a 23cm/9in pie dish, cake tin or tart case (about 3cm-4cm/1¼ in-1½ in deep) and gently press into the sides and edges
Trim any excess pastry from the rim. Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork, and blind bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
Prepare the filling while you wait for the pastry case to cool

For the filling

Put all the filling ingredients apart from the redcurrants in a food mixer
Combine until the mazarin is smooth and even, and all the ingredients have been fully incorporated
Turn the oven temperature up to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
Pour the mazarin filling into the cooled pastry case and carefully sprinkle the redcurrants over the top, gently pushing some of them into the mazarin mixture
Bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes until golden and well risen
Turn off the oven, leave the oven door ajar and allow the tart to cool slowly in the oven

Keyword fruit tart, redcurrants, tart

Redcurrant jelly

July sees the start of our food harvesting and preserving season. Last week we made a delicious elderflower ice cream with our home-made elderflower cordial.

This week, we’ve made some redcurrant jelly using a recipe from Cordon Bleu Preserving.

We inherited half a dozen or so redcurrant bushes when we took on our allotment last year. On our last trip down there this week, the bushes were heaving with little red jewels.

It took the pair of us about two hours to pick about half of them. When we got home, we gave them a rinse – they barely filled our small colander!

Despite this, we kept back a couple of cupfuls (to go into a pie) before making rest into jelly… it actually made 8 jars.

We know that redcurrant jelly is usually matched with lamb or game and a dollop or two can go into a gravy for extra flavour. We’ll have to look for some other good flavour matches…any ideas?

Redcurrant jelly

Cordon Bleu Preserving

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Course Condiment

Cuisine British

Ingredients

Redcurrants
800 g granulated or preserving sugar to each litre of juice made

Instructions

Gently rinse the redcurrants in a colander before carefully removing the stems and putting the fruit into Kilner jars
Firmly cover the jars with lids before putting them in to an oven at 300ºF/Gas mark 2 until the juice has run well
Remove from the oven carefully remove the lids and turn out the fruit into a jelly bag or muslin overnight
Measure the juice and take the correct proportion of sugar
Add the sugar to a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or jam pan and warm on a low heat
In a separate pan, heat the juice to boiling point (but don't allow to boil)
Add the juice carefully to the warm sugar stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved
Pour jelly at once into sterilised jars
Allow to cool before screwing the lids on firmly

Keyword currants, jelly, preserves, redcurrants

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: redcurrants

Redcurrant ice cream

Redcurrant ice cream

Ingredients

Instructions

Redcurrant cordial

Redcurrant cordial

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Redcurrant mazarin tart

Redcurrant mazarin tart

Ingredients

For the pastry base

For the almond paste

For the filling

Instructions

For the pastry

For the almond paste

For the pastry pt II

For the filling

Redcurrant jelly

Redcurrant jelly

Ingredients

Instructions