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.
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.
ReplyDeleteWell 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?
ReplyDeleteyes, 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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