No culinary marriage rolls off the tongue fairly so comfortably as blackberry ’n’ apple. The pairing of latest season’s Pippins with the final of the yr’s indigenous berries is one as previous as time. It's laborious to think about a degree when the 2 fruits didn’t share a dish – although it should be mentioned that the arrival of the shiny black drupelets does appear to come back round sooner than after I was a child.
A deep bowl of steaming stewed cooked apples stained with bramble juice is one thing I maintain off from making till early autumn. Nothing fairly confirms the change of season like the looks of a blackberry and apple pie. This yr I've given the alliance a savoury airing as a sauce for pork chops – rubbed with a thyme and juniper salt – and as a filling for a seeded oat slice.
There are few wild blackberries round my neck of the woods. A cascade of spiky brambles climbs over the backyard wall, bringing flowers however not often fruit, so it's the cultivated ones that find yourself in my kitchen. They're sweeter and fatter than their wild siblings, which I'm not certain is altogether an excellent factor.
The sharpness of a blackberry picked from a hedge is an autumn deal with past measure regardless of – or maybe due to – the inevitable scratched legs and arms that accompany them. Newfangled pairings will come and go, and some will keep and develop into fortunately a part of the culinary panorama, however I think about blackberry and apple is unshakeable – a timeless coming collectively of two seasonal components that might be right here to the tip.
Pork chops, blackberries and juniper salt
Style the apple and blackberry sauce as you go: it's possible you'll need to add a bit of sugar relying on the sweetness of your fruit. This will provide you with sufficient sauce to accompany your chops and to serve with yoghurt, for breakfast. Serves 4
cooking apples 1.2kg
water 50ml
the juice of half a lemon
cloves 4
mushy brown sugar 1 tbsp
yellow mustard seeds 1 tsp
juniper berries 1 tbsp
black peppercorns 6
thyme leaves 1 tsp, chopped
sea salt flakes or crystals 1 tbsp
blackberries 250g
crimson wine vinegar 2 tsp
pork chops 4 x 250g every
a bit of olive oil
Peel the apples, lower them into quarters and take away their cores, then roughly chop them. Put the apples right into a non-reactive pan (stainless-steel or enamelled) then add the water, lemon juice, cloves and sugar. Carry the apples to the boil and allow them to cook dinner, partially lined with a lid, for 10-Quarter-hour or so, until they're mushy sufficient to crush with a fork.
In a dry, shallow pan over a reasonable warmth, toast the mustard seeds until barely darkened. Grind along with the juniper berries, thyme, pepper and salt to a rough powder. Take away the apples from the warmth, then beat for a minute with a wood spoon till mild and fluffy. Take away the cloves and stir within the blackberries, vinegar and mustard seeds, and put aside.
Warmth a griddle pan or overhead grill. Oil the chops evenly then rub 1 tsp of the juniper salt into every of the pork chops, massaging it into the flesh and fats. Place the chops on the griddle or below the grill and cook dinner until the fats is golden and flesh is cooked to your liking. Take away the chops, season evenly with a bit of extra of the juniper salt and allow them to relaxation on a heat plate, lined with kitchen foil or a lid.
Put the chops on a serving dish or on plates, and add just a few spoons of apple and blackberry sauce on every. Scatter over just a few further blackberries if you want.
Blackberry and apple seed bars
You'll be able to simply veganise this by utilizing coconut oil instead of the butter. Use the identical weight – 100g – and rub it as you'd should you have been making crumble. It will be significant that your apple and blackberry combination shouldn't be moist. Whether it is, then drain for an hour in a sieve earlier than utilizing. Candy forms of apple might be extra appropriate than cooking varieties equivalent to Bramley, which are likely to cook dinner to a froth.
For the filling:
apples, candy 1.3kg
the juice of a lemon
water 50ml
blackberries 200g
For the bottom:
sunflower seeds 50g
pumpkin seeds 40g
skinned almonds 50g
butter 100g
chia seeds 2 tbsp
porridge oats 100g
rolled or jumbo oats 100g
demerara sugar 4 tbsp
Make the filling: peel the apples, core and roughly chop them and put them in a shallow pan with the lemon juice and water. Allow them to cook dinner over a reasonable warmth until mushy sufficient to crush with a fork, then tip them right into a sieve positioned over a bowl to empty. When the apples cool, lower the blackberries in half and stir them in. Put aside.
Put the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and skinned almonds within the meals processor and work to coarse crumbs. Add the butter (or coconut oil), chia seeds, oats and demerara then rub between your fingers and thumbs, as if making crumble. It can really feel like operating your fingers via coarse, mushy sand.
Set the oven at 170C/gasoline mark 2-3. Place half of the combination in a 20 x 30 shallow baking tin, lined with baking parchment, urgent it down flat with the again of a spoon. Bake for 25 minutes until agency and lightweight brown.
Unfold the blackberry and apple combination over the floor, evenly easy it down, then scatter the remaining crumb combination over the floor and return to the oven for an extra 20-25 minutes.
Take away from the oven and depart to chill. Refrigerate for half-hour to agency up then lower into 12 equal bars and take away rigorously with a palette knife.
Comply with Nigel on Instagram @NigelSlater
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