The weather has been very mixed recently and the fruit seasons are also a bit mixed up. I met Pat Clarke of Clarke’s Fresh Fruit at Bloom every day and he told me that in 50 years he has never seen strawberries so early. Clarke’s supply wonderful fruit to us in the restaurant.
Today, I have two recipes that celebrate our summer fruit. The pizza is very easy to make and popular with children. I like it made with raspberries in summer, but other fruit, such as apricots, plums, peaches or nectarines, would also be very tasty.
The individual fruit crumbles are great with all of the delicious summer fruit. At this time of year you will get great fruit and it is very good value. You could make one big crumble, but by cooking them individually the fruit needs much less time in the oven, so it holds its shape better and somehow taste fresher.
Happy cooking.
Neven Maguire’s Complete Baby & Toddler Cookbook is published by Gill & MacMillan
Raspberry pizza
Serves four
Plain flour, for dusting
320g packet of shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen
100g (4oz) of light muscovado sugar
50g (2oz) of butter
2 tbsp of cream
Grated rind of one small orange
400g (12oz) of raspberries
For the cream:
100g (4oz) of mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp of caster sugar
2 tbsp of raspberry cordial/juice/syrup
75ml (2 1/2fl oz) of cream
Fresh mint leaves, to decorate
1 On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to 0.5cm (¼in) thick and cut into four 12cm (4½in) rounds. Lift these onto a baking sheet, prick the bases well with a fork and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours, to allow the pastry to rest.
2 Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark six). Bake the pastry rounds for 10 minutes until puffed up, but not coloured.
3 Meanwhile, make the mascarpone cream. Soften the mascarpone in a bowl with the sugar and raspberry cordial or juice. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream to soft peaks and fold into the mascarpone mixture. Cover with cling film and chill until needed.
4 To make caramel sauce, heat the sugar, butter and cream together in a frying pan for about five minutes or until the sugar has melted into the butter, to give us a silky, light brown sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange rind.
5 Remove the pastry circles from the oven and arrange the raspberries in a neat pattern, leaving a 0.5cm (¼in) border. Brush the raspberries liberally with the caramel sauce and return to the oven for a further five to eight minutes, until the pastry is golden and the raspberries are still holding their shape. Decorate with mint leaves and serve with a spoonful of mascarpone cream in the centre of each pizza (the remainder can be put in a bowl and served separately) and a drizzle more of the caramel sauce.
Individual crumbles
Serves four
6 plums, cut into quarters (stones discarded)
2 ripe peaches, cut into slices (stones discarded)
100g of raspberries
100g of blueberries
For the crumble topping:
5 tbsp of plain flour
½ tsp of ground cinnamon
75g (3oz) of butter, diced
5 tbsp of caster sugar
2 tbsp of slivered almonds
Vanilla ice-cream or softly whipped cream, to serve
1 Divide the fruit among four small ovenproof dishes or ramekins. To make the crumble topping, place the flour and cinnamon in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar and almonds. Sprinkle over the fruit and bake for 20 minutes or until the crumble is cooked through and golden, and the fruit is soft. Serve warm or cold topped with a scoop of ice-cream or a dollop of whipped cream.
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