Fish with gooseberries and blueberry pasta. That's the taste of Czech summer!
Fresh or preserved, fermented or grilled! Berries have an underrated flavour potential that is worth discovering not only in desserts, but also in salads, sauces and dressings, in pasta or alongside meat. Seasonal fruits promise a pleasant tanginess, an attractive acid-to-sweet ratio and a fun texture in food. What to do with them in the kitchen?
1. Vegetable creations
Summer berries make their way onto menus primarily as an ingredient (and a subtle garnish) in salads, or where chefs choose to add fresh and pickled fruit to a bowl or whip it into a smoothie or a fantastic dressing. Currants, gooseberries, blackberries and blueberries are blended into a vinaigrette, which can also be made with the juice from the pickled fruit - combined with good quality oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, Dijon mustard, honey, shallots and herbs.
A blackcurrant reduction makes simple dressing: 200 ml of fruit juice is brought to a gentle boil, 75 g of honey is heated and the mixture is boiled down to about half. The reduced liquid is then whisked with 200 ml of olive oil. For the dressing for the leaf salad with sheep's cheese, whisk a tablespoon of blueberry marmalade, two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard and 4 to 5 tablespoons of oil, salt and freshly ground pepper - blueberries also like mint, basil or rosemary.
Raspberry vinaigrette elevates cruciferous vegetables such as (roasted) kohlrabi or kale. One recipe prescribes 60 g of raspberries, 50 ml of red wine vinegar, ½ clove of garlic, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt and 100 ml of olive oil. The cooks first marinate the raspberries in the vinegar overnight, the next day they mix the grated garlic, mustard and salt, add the pickled raspberries and mix everything. Finally, they whisk the oil into the mixture by hand - it tends to oxidise and become bitter when blended.
Extra tips: You can also add one and a half cups of raspberries, half a cup of vegetable oil, a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, a small shallot, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Another version is made with 100 g raspberries, 150 ml orange juice, 25 g Dijon mustard, 30 ml balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and 50 ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil. Stir in out of season raspberry jam, and flavour it with Brussels sprouts roasted in butter and lemon.
Fresh or pickled red and white currants work well with grilled pointed cabbage and smoked mayonnaise, while roasted fennel with goat's cheese matches blackberry sauce. Whisk together 200 g of berries, two tablespoons of raspberry vinegar, five tablespoons of (cold-pressed) oil and a teaspoon of honey, but you can also add fresh herbs or fennel seeds.
Messages from the kitchen
Feel free to add herbs and spices to sweet or sweet and sour infusions! At Café Savoy gooseberries are preserved sweet with vanilla and surprises guests in a salad with marinated fish and cranberries with dill. These are garnished with roasted chanterelles in butter with hollandaise sauce, egg and salmon caviar.
The jar with blackberries or other forest fruits, in addition to the liqueur, can also accommodate leftover vanilla pods or juniper berries. Pickled blueberries, on the other hand, benefit from star anise and whole cinnamon.
Unripe berries are used to make verjus, which is then used to acidify both dressings and (buttery) sauces or drinks.
Cooked and pureed gooseberries spice up dressings and cocktails, while fresh ones are set aside for pesto - various herbs and stems, salt, pepper and vinegar or lemon juice go in with the fruit. In salads, lightly grilled gooseberries work well - the heat treatment makes them lose their sharpness.
The berries produce a similar effect to a technique called encapsulation. It is a concentration of flavour that is released on the tongue only after a certain component in the food has been chewed - examples are berry balls, but also pomegranate seeds or citrus. Chef Heston Blumenthal introduced this method as part of the concept of neurogastronomy, which aims to engage all of the guests' senses at the table.
2. Italy again!
The Italians know exactly how berries pair with mushrooms and combine them in pasta, sauces and risotto. Blueberries are wonderful in conjunction with chanterelles or true porcini mushrooms, and blueberry jam traditionally appears alongside game. You can try spaghetti ai mirtilli - pasta with blueberries, pancetta and cream, or spoon the berries over fettuccine with mushroom ragout.
Blackcurrants beautifully complements mushroom ravioli with sage butter and fried sage leaves or long pasta with brown butter, parmesan and lemon zest. Red and white currants will liven up linguine with pistachio pesto, for example.
For the sweet and sour brine from Eska you need:
- 6 parts water
- 2 parts fermenting vinegar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- wild spices or cloves, cinnamon or other herbs to taste
3. For meat and fish
Acidity and fat make a perfect pair! Berries lighten fatty pork, duck or fish and brighten creamy butter sauces. Fruit is added to hot dishes either towards the end of cooking, or in bite-sized portions as a reduced puree, with most cooks preferring the former as a pleasant explosion of flavour in contrast to the smooth consistency of the sauces.
In particular, blueberries, blackcurrants and sweet gooseberries stand out in beurre blanc - the ideal accompaniment to fish, as well as gooseberry compote that sits on the plate alongside the fattier carp, catfish or mackerel. Thanks to their peculiar acidity, gooseberries are used to mix dressings for oysters.
At Eska in Karlin, fish is served with coarsely mixed salsa of fresh and preserved gooseberries. Another proven accompaniment to fish or meat you can taste in restaurants are gooseberries sautéed in butter with a little sugar or elderflower syrup.
The character of forest fruits is also appreciated by cooks in the preparation of venison. Currants, blackberries and blueberries are stirred into ready-made sauces, for example brown butter with a little demi-glace, or made into a compote or puree. 100 g of berries are poured into a pan with a little water and gently cooked with 10 to 15 g of sugar until soft (just a few minutes), or everything is blended and boiled.
Beef tartare in the Nordic style often combines beef with blackcurrants or blueberries - mayonnaise is spread on the plate, then coarsely minced meat with seasoned oil and pickled shallots or mushrooms, and finally herbs and berries.
Guaranteed experiments
The chefs at Café Savoy process blackcurrant puree. This sweetens a salad of cucumber, courgette and aubergine or is spread under smoked beef tongue with Parmesan. They've also dropped blueberries on the summer menu - with halibut, mushrooms, bacon and juniper.
Sweet blueberries match with the tangy balsamic in, for example, blueberry chutney, which is worth serving with cured meats and aged cheeses. Add to your list of recipes a delicious glaze made with blueberries, balsamic, fresh thyme, garlic and lemon juice, which is used on grilled fish and vegetables or roasted meat. The glaze of blueberries and other berries can be poured over grilled cheese or spread it over sandwiches.
A mixture of currants, gooseberries and blackberries is used in Eska for things like grilled aubergine with butter sauce, seasoned with currant compote juice. The blackcurrants are also delicious on potatoes with butter sauce and whey, herbs, blackcurrant oil and pickled currant leaves.
Blackberries are baked in savoury pies with goat cheese or brie and thyme, scatter them on pizza with burrata or arrange them on rosemary focaccia.
Lend a tangy sweet and salty flavour to sauces and fatty meats with gooseberries prepared in the style of umeboshi Japanese plums. The process is simple - gooseberries, salt and shiso leaves are layered in a jar, then the jar is sealed and placed in a room-temperature room for four weeks. The fermented fruit is usually rinsed before use so that its flavour does not overpower the other ingredients in the dish.
Cooks make a stock of fruit vinegar. The berries are blended with water or a little sugar or yeast to speed up fermentation into alcohol. After a few days, the liquid is strained and left to ferment. In Eska, the fermentation of vinegar also helps mother of kombucha - it is added to the remaining compote juice or to a mixture of fruit or jam mixed in water.
Less demanding are the instructions for raspberry vinegar: Rinse 240 g of fresh raspberries under running water, mash in a bowl and pour in 320 ml of white wine vinegar and 320 ml of fermenting vinegar. The mixture should ripen in the fridge for about 10 days, then strain through a cheesecloth and store in a closed bottle in a cool place. The remaining fruit can be used in dressing, lemonade or mixed drinks.
Blackcurrant leaves and stems are used in kitchens to make oil, which is heated to 70 °C and cooled. A few drops bring a distinctive flavour and fruity aroma to the plate.
Raspberry and blackberry leaves in a 1:2 ratio can be fermented for tea. The leaves are left to wilt and later crushed with a roller, sprinkled with water and wrapped in a towel. After two to three days in a warm place, the flavour - which can be reminiscent of rose and Chinese teas - fully develops.
Source: Ambiente Chefs, Great British Chefs
