Shaken not stirred

The pursuit of food has left me with bloody hands and superficial skin wounds today. No, I haven't been scrapping in the aisles of Waitrose, but foraging in the hedgerows. Most of the blackberries have rotted on the bush, but there are still some fine specimens to be had if you have a high pain threshold and a high reach.

Blackberry vodka in the making

This time last year I posted a recipe for blackberry vodka; I finally got round to making it today. It's ludicrously easy and very economical because you can use the cheapest vodka known to man. Perfect given as Christmas gifts, or mixed with tonic for your own festive celebrations. And it's so quick you can make it while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Black beauties

Blackberry Vodka - the recipe

Put 600g blackberries, 200g sugar and 1 litre vodka in a bottle with a tight seal (I used a 2 litre glass storage jar). Shake it up a bit, put it in a cool, dark place and give it shake once a week for the next 12 weeks or so. Then simply strain and re-bottle it.

Inedible, but beautiful

Stop, thief!

It's a bad day for retail when you visit your local High Street for the first time in weeks with high hopes and flexible plastic - but all you come away with is a packet of fake/joke flies (cost £1). So to cheer myself up I thought I'd indulge in a bit of theft. Not old-fashioned pilfering from Tesco like Anthony Worrall Thompson, but new-fangled internet plagiarism from another blogger: Blackberry and Almond Traybake from English Kitchen Baking. When these popped into my inbox I knew I had to make them straight away. I hope you feel the same.

Fruity, cakey, almondy, squidgy... gorgeous

Blackberry and almond traybake

250g butter

250g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

120g plain flour

225g ground almonds

300g blackberries (frozen)

a few drops of almond essence

Pre-heat oven to 180/gas 4. Line a baking tin measuring about 30x20cm. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs a little at a time, fold in the flour, ground almonds and essence. Tip into the tin and scatter the blackberries on top. Bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown. Dust with icing sugar when cool, or eat warm with cream.

More leftovers

Leftovers... Seems like I'm always using that word in my blogging. I am happy to waste money on all kinds of fripperies, but like to run a very tight ship (or fridge) in the kitchen. Today was rather a challenge, as I had half a pack of beef mince and a fillet of haddock to work with. A packet or jar of carefully blended seasoning or sauce can disguise a lot, but nothing can marry together a fish and a cow. On another shelf was the remains of yesterday's lunch, a chicken, leek and mushroom crumble, bought from the local farm shop. I balked inwardly at the price when I purchased it (£20), but it has now yielded 10 portions so really not bad at all.

The downside (or upside) was that we had savoury crumble followed by apple and blackberry crumble.   I have already given you the recipe, but to save you scrolling back, here it is again. It contains cholesterol-busting oats (as well as quite a lot of butter to redress the balance).

Blackberry and Apple Crumble

Blackberry and apple crumble

Whizz together 5oz butter and 6oz plain flour until they look like breadcrumbs, add 3oz sugar and 4oz oats and blitz for a few seconds until everything is combined. Spoon over the top of fruit and bake at 190 degrees/gas 5 until golden brown. This makes enough to serve six, but I usually eke it out for two crumbles. Put what you don't use first time into a container and keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks.