Last year I wrote about gooseberries – probably my favourite seasonal fruit. But currants are another cracker.
Everyone knows what redcurrants are but many don’t know of anything smart to do with them. The thing I love about this soft fruit is that they have an amazing burst of juice inside. They are very delicate. They are underrated and overused as garnish by pastry chefs. They look good on the plate but their sharpness, more than their appearance, is something to showcase.
Redcurrants go well with so many different sweet flavours. It works well in desserts and is as massive compliment to savoury meats. How about a nice summer salad? Spread some minted natural yoghurt over some lamb fillets then grill and bake them. Once cooked, slice it up then make a salad with toasted nuts, spring onion, peppery rocket, avocado oil, a splash of balsamic and a nice handful of picked redcurrants to bring out that sweetness and add a bit of colour. It’s about bringing something to a dish rather than just the visual aspect.
Alternatively, here’s how to make a simple sauce for duck. Cook the meat and while it’s resting deglaze the same pan. I would add a bit of sweet vinegar like red wine vinegar or balsamic. Add a bit of water and sugar then a few splashes of oil. You’ll git a split warm dressing. Then throw in the redcurrants so they just start to heat through and split – then throw in good handful of chopped parsley. This sauce will cut through the fat of the duck. That’s perfect.
Finally, here’s a recipe for a granite. It would be a perfect little palate cleanser. You could probably go the extent of setting in to an ice cube tray with sticks. You could even put them in your prosecco. You could also swap blackcurrants – you would almost have a frozen Kir Royale
PROSECCO AND REDCURRANT GRANITE
200g unrefined brown sugar
Zest of one lime
350ml prosecco
200ml water
200g redcurrants
Dissolve the sugar in the water: bring to the simmer until sugar has dissolved. Then take off the heat and cool it down. To accelerate the process, you could do it over a bowl of ice. Pour in the prosecco and strip the redcurrrants off the stalk. Then pour this mix into a freezable deep dish.
Freeze it until it starts to set then pull it out and scrape it with a fork until it starts going slushy. Then freeze it again repeat two or three times. When you scrape it up to serve you will get some berries that are whole then some that are crushed. You will get the sweet and the sparkling and the slightly sharp flavour and almost like a tie die effect.
