How to cook with blackberries

Roast grouse

4 grouse, including giblets
500g duck fat
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper

Potato galette

3 large potatoes
100g seasoned flour
2 eggs, whisked
200g breadcrumbs
Oil

Sauce

100ml olive oil
100g butter
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 flat mushrooms
200ml port
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 punnet blackberries, fresh
200ml chicken stock
300ml veal jus

To plate

1 savoy cabbage
1tbsp butter
24 blackberries
Salt
Pepper

Remove the legs and wings from birds. Separate the thigh from the drumstick by cutting through joint. Remove the intestines, reserving the hearts and livers. Cut out the spine, crop and wish-bone so that you are left with the crown, i.e. the breasts on the bone. Place the thighs in a pan with the duck fat and confit slowly over a very low heat for an hour or until the meat is tender. Remove the meat from the thigh, making sure there is no bone or lead shot and flake the meat​. To make the sauce, put the olive oil and butter into a pan. When it starts to foam add the drumsticks, wings and spine bone from the bird and slowly caramelise​.

Add the sliced shallots and garlic, cook until soft then add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the water in the mushrooms has evaporated and they start to caramelise. Drain the fat from the pan, deglaze with the port and add the bones back to the pan with the thyme and fresh blackberries​. Boil until the bones become glazed then add the chicken stock and jus, bring up to the boil and skim​.

Cook slowly for 20 minutes then pass through a fine chinois lined with four layers of muslin cloth into a clean pan. Bring up to the boil and reduce, skimming all of the time until you achieve a light syrupy consistency. To make the potato galettes, bake the potatoes until soft. Scoop the centres out and put to one side. Sauté the livers and hearts and then chop to a smooth paste along with the confit thigh meat. Mix the potato into the paste meat a little at a time until you get the taste you require (it can be quite strong). Season with salt and pepper, then form into four round discs approximately 1cm thick. Allow to set in the fridge.

Put the flour, egg and breadcrumbs on three separate plates. Coat the set potato discs first in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Set aside​. Remove the dark green outer leaves from the cabbage and discard. Remove the tender green leaves and cut out the stalk. Slice the leaves very thinly then place into boiling salted water until tender and then straight into iced water. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a hot pan, season the grouse with salt and pepper and seal all over until golden brown. Transfer to the oven and cook at 180C for 4-8 minutes depending on the size of the bird. Leave to rest in a warm place. In the meantime, cook the potato galette in a deep fryer until golden brown and crispy. To serve, reheat the cabbage in a little butter and season with a little salt and pepper. Place the blackberries into the sauce at the last minute just to warm through then remove breasts from bird and keep warm.

For each plate, place some of the cabbage in the centre of the dish and place a galette on top. Arrange two grouse breasts on top of the galette, one on top of the other and arrange the six blackberries around cabbage. Bring the sauce back up to the boil and check for consistency (you may want to whisk a little bit of butter into your sauce at this point just to smooth it out and make it shine) then pour over and around the grouse and serve.

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Apple crumble topping

250g plain flour
170g butter
110g macadamia nuts
110g almonds, nibbed
110g demerara sugar
4 drops vanilla extract
Salt

Apple crumble filling

4 granny smith apples
50g butter
200g blackberries
50g sugar

To plate

1 dollop custard

To make the apple crumble topping, preheat the oven to 160C. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until the mixture is the texture of breadcrumbs​. Spread out the crumble on a baking tray and put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, being sure to stir the crumble mixture every 10 minutes. Remove when the mixture is golden brown and set aside to cool.

To make the apple filling, peel and core the apples then cut them into even-sized pieces about 3-4cm wide. Put a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and add the butter. When it starts to foam, add the apple pieces.

Cook gently for 5-8 minutes until the apple is just becoming tender, then add the blackberries and sugar and continue cooking for a further 8-10 minutes. Spoon the filling into an ovenproof dish and sprinkle liberally with the crumble topping. Bake for 10-12 minutes before serving with hot custard, cream, vanilla ice-cream or all three.

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Spicy blackberry chutney

150g blackberries
½tsp fennel seeds
3 bay leaves
1tsp ginger, chopped
1tsp degi mirch powder
3tbsp water
1tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the fennel seeds, bay leaves and chopped ginger. Stir for a minute, then add the blackberries.

Cook for a minute, then add the degi mirch powder and water. Mix gently, cover the pan and leave to simmer for couple of minutes.

Season to taste and the blackberry chutney is ready to serve.

Recipes courtesy of Great British Chefs, visit their site for more brilliant blackberry recipes