rose petal jam

small beauties

Note: the title of this entry is stolen from the very lovely and sadly departed Julia Darling Read her poem of the same title via this link.

Just look at them!! I should have put this post up weeks ago as that is when the berries were picked, but it just never happened. I wondered whether it was now past bramble season and I shouldn't blog this, but the bushes on the country walk path at the weekend said no, so here we go.

Blackberries, or brambles are a childhood thing for me. We used to go along the banks of the Leeds - Liverpool canal, carrying empty margarine tubs and collecting as many of these as possible. God the scratches we used to get! By the end of the afternoon we all looked like we had had a cat fight with a vicious moggy! Also, our lips and hands were stained purple as I think Helen and I ate as many as made it into the tubs.

Afterwards they were transformed into jam, puddings and even wine (strictly for the grown ups though!).

And in honour of all of this I created a new and unbelievably easy pud, which would even cut the mustard at a casual dinner party I reckon.

Bramble and Ginger Mess

ok, so it's not even a recipe!!

Put together brambles, creme fraiche and smashed up ginger biscuits and serve in pretty/ attractive glasses. I used Tescos organic ginger biccies which are very oaty so it gives a nice wholesome edge to the dessert. If your berries are very tart, as they can be, then sprinkle them with sugar about 5 mins before combining with the rest. Ooh! and a slug of ginger wine at this point also adds a lovely booziness to the proceedings. It's just lovely and takes 2 mins to assemble and serve and as you can see looks very sweet.

full of eastern promise...

I thought I should really include a recipe that uses the namesake of this blog, rose petal jam. When coming up with the name for the blog, Dom and I thought that this would be a good name for several reasons:

It’s unusual and we love to try new stuff. We first came across rose petal jam in an Indian supermarket and just HAD to buy it. We couldn’t wait to get it home and as soon as we did, we headed for the kitchen, grabbed spoons, opened the jar and tentatively dived in (now there’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one!) It can be found in middle eastern supermarkets and on the world wide web I believe.

It’s Middle Eastern in origin, as is Dominic (he's half Lebananse and lived in Iraq as a young child). Rose petals and rosewater, syrup etc are all very reminiscent of the Arabian nights, Turkish delight and all things dusky and romantic.

I on the other hand am a bit of an English rose – a Yorkshire rose infact. And I love anything of a rosy bent. I always wear a rose based perfume, love pinks, damasks and rich reds, and have a weakness for rose cream chocolates – Charbonnel and Walker if you’re passing…

I was reading the Moro cookbook recently, as you do, and I came across a recipe for Rosewater and Cardamom ice cream. This got me thinking about the rose petal jam that was sat in the cupboard. We were going to cook Middle Eastern food for Helen & Mark (sister and BF) and I’d wanted a suitable dessert. Suddenly it all became clear. So whilst this is based on the Moro recipe, I feel I have adapted it suitably to make it mine, all mine.

Rose petal jam ice cream

400ml whipping cream
400ml full fat milk
250ml of evaporated milk
100ml of rosewater
12 cardamom pods
110g golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons of rose petal jam

Firstly, put the cream and milk into a pan along with the cardamom pods. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 mins until it has reduced by about 1/3 and it has turned a rich, almost yellowy cream colour. The pods will puff up and infuse their flavour into the milk. Whilst this is simmering add the rosewater and sugar into a small pan and heat, dissolving the sugar and making a thin sugar syrup.

Once the milk mixture is done, strain into a jug, removing the pods. Add the sugar syrup and jam and stir well until the jam has been distributed through the mixture, flecking it with it’s lovely browny tinge. The ice cream mixture will now be a very light caramel in colour.

Allow this to cool and either put in the ice cream maker if you have one, or into a tupperware tub if you don’t. If you are going with the Tupperware, put in the freezer and every 40 mins or so take out and incorporate the ice crystals until it begins a firm set then just leave in the freezer until needed. If using the machine continue as if you were making some less glamorous flavour and then put into the freezer to save for when needed.

It occurs to me that you could substitute the rose water for orange blossom water, and you could also add little shards of vivid green pistachio at the soft set stage.

You could also serve with pomegranate syrup drizzled over the top. Mmm… the perfect chilled dessert for a spicy and sultry middle eastern feast.