Sunday 21 June 2009

Gooseberries with Mascarpone Cream [#110]


Like rhubarb, a taste for gooseberries has only come to me as I have got older. I now appreciate their sharp, tart edge after a roast dinner, especially when tempered with a modest spoonful of Nigel's eggy Mascarpone cream. Perfect after the roast lamb of the previous recipe, and a starter of mini salmon and dill fishcakes stashed in the freezer (see recipe #74). The gooseberries, of course, came from the local PYO at Medley Manor Farm in Binsey, on the West edge of Oxford - a most marvellous place.

3 comments:

  1. coincidence! I have never, ever seen goosegogs here (the French don't even have a word for them), but today a friend gave us a handful from the bush in his garden. It's been so wet this year that it actually produced fruit, and they were amazingly sweet -- we just ate them raw straight from the bag, which I've only ever done with red gooseberries before.

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  2. Well there you are! It is because they are bang in season. Don't the French call them 'groseilles', which is also the name for redcurrants?

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  3. yes, exacly, but they aren't the same thing, are they? Gooseberries are identified as "groseilles à maquereaux" i.e. the sort you eat with mackerel! You don't ever see them for sale in this part of France, though I suppose they might be more common further north.

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