31 Jul Blackberry Ricotta Gelato
Blackberry and Ricotta Gelato
Tastes like a Mini Milk got lost in a Bramble Bush
We’ve been blackberrying. Although everything here is always earlier, it seems odd to be picking in late July, but the berries are ready and will wait for no man (however tiny and Saintly he may be).
We set off with our basket and bike and strip the hedgerows. I remember looking forward to the moment when he would be old enough to help me harvest. And here we are, picking together. Almost. He finds it more fun tipping the berries out of the basket than putting them into it. Chaos has always been more appealing than order. ‘Bassskit’ is a word he finds satisfying to say. Blackberries in the bassskit, his lisps, as he waddles along, dragging the basket beside him. He puts the occasional berry in his mouth, smiles intially at its sweetness, and then spits it out (even at 2, he still won’t chew).
It’s a good year, it hasn’t been too hot or too dry and the berries are fat and full of juice. I decide to dust off the Gelato maker and make a gelato. A simple, creamy base of ricotta, with blackberries.
Cornflour is a magic ingredient. It can replicate the magical chewiness of gelato without the necessity of a million other additives. This gelato base is one I included in Dolce, and contains just 5 ingredients: milk, ricotta, cornflour, sugar and a tiny pinch of salt. It tastes exactly like a refined Mini Milk, and is the perfect milky, slightly chewy consistency. You can leave it simple or flavour it with fruit puree. I can’t believe I don’t make it more often. It is mind-bogglingly easy.
I have become obsessive about looking at the ingredients on the back of packets. Sometimes a simple cake, biscuit or ice cream can contain 30-40 different substances, sometimes more. So I turn back to the recipes with 4 or 5 max, and with the sort of ingredients I know I will have, or can find, and that I recognise as simple, every day things I can find in the Co-op or the cupboard.
This gelato ticks my parental paranoia box about what I put into the Saint’s perfect little body, and it is also delicious, economic and easy.
Makes 1 large Tupperware.
For the Blackberry Puree
260g of blackberries (I picked mine)
1 tbsp sugar
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
For the Ricotta Gelato Base
400ml whole milk
140g sugar
15g cornflour
250g ricotta (tub is fine)
Pinch of sea salt
Bring the milk and sugar to a simmer, stirring occasionally to help melt the sugar.
Place the cornflour in a bowl and add a ladleful of the hot milk mixture to it, whisking well to form a smooth puree. Add the cornflour back to the pan with the milk and whisk well over a low heat for a few minutes until the mixture becomes the consistency of a thin custard – more like double cream. It will come to a rolling boil, and be sure to whisk well. If you find any lumps you can sieve them out.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Cook the blackberries over a low heat covered with a lid with the grated lemon zest, sugar and water until completely soft. Add the lemon juice and then blitz to form a puree (if the seeds bother you, you can at this point push the puree through a sieve. I usually don’t). now you can choose to ripple the fruit or to mix it intotally and churn. If rippling, churn your plain white ice cream and whilst still soft, ripple through the blackberry puree with a spoon. Freeze, covered with a piece of greaseproof touching the surface and then a lid. Allow to warm a little before scooping and serving.
