Until I moved to England in my 20s, I hadn’t even heard of the gooseberry, let alone eaten one. As always when I feel an outsider to a British food tradition, I turned to Jane Grigson for advice, because the world she conjures in her books makes me feel both included and excluded at the same time: her writing is so wonderfully vivid, yet it’s also just so brilliantly, quintessentially British.
As she writes in Good Things, “Gooseberries… provide the first fruit of the year. Unless you count strawberries flown in from Kenya. I don’t.” She then cites the 1920s fruit gourmet and grower Edward Bunyard’s description of this glorious berry as “the fruit par excellence for ambulant consumption. The freedom of the bush should be given to all visitors… and the exercise of gathering, too, is beneficial to the middle-aged and also stimulates their absorptive capacity.” Bunyard, Grigson goes on, delights in that “sociable summer hour which ambles along – or used to – between Matins and Sunday lunch”. See what I mean by quintessentially British?
The gooseberries in season now are firm little pale green ones. They are tart and acidic, so need sweetening for the compotes, jams and pickles that pair so well with rich meat, oily fish or cream. The larger, sweeter berries with softer, veiny-looking skins don’t arrive until August, and can be eaten as they are, in little need of sweetening or cooking. To quote Bunyard again, they “are in such demand when school breaks up [that] lateness is a virtue which can hardly be overrated. No garden yet grew more gooseberries than the young people are able to deal with.” (My own childhood memories are more about having pomegranate juices hosed off me.)
Nearly 100 years after Bunyard’s time, it is strawberries dominate the UK’s summer berry market and gooseberries are no longer as easy to get hold of. Frozen are fine if you’re going to cook them, but today’s first recipe needs fresh berries; frozen ones wilt when defrosted and you want these to stay firm.
Gooseberry crumble fool
If you can, get hold of some red gooseberries for this: bright fools always look fantastic. Serves six.
400g fresh (or frozen) gooseberries, topped and tailed
80g caster sugar
350ml double cream
For the crumble
40g jumbo rolled oats
40g wholemeal flour
50g unsalted fridge-cold butter, cut into 2cm dice
30g caster sugar
½ tsp ground ginger
30g almonds (skin on), roughly chopped
1½ tbsp poppy seeds, plus 1 tsp extra to serve
Pinch of flaky sea salt
For the custard
2 tbsp custard powder (not instant)
3 tbsp caster sugar
400ml full-fat milk
2 tbsp amaretto (optional)
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Put the custard powder, sugar and three tablespoons of milk in a bowl and mix until smooth. Pour the rest of the milk into a saucepan on a medium-high flame. When it starts to simmer, pour the hot milk into the custard mix, whisking as you go, until smooth, then pour back into the pan. Return to the heat and cook through for a minute or two, stirring constantly, until thick, then take off the heat and stir in the amaretto, if using. Cover with cling-film (the film should touch the surface of the custard, to prevent a skin forming) and leave to cool.
Put the gooseberries and sugar in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat. Cook for six to seven minutes, stirring constantly and squashing the fruit as you do so, until it’s the consistency of a runny jam, then set aside to cool completely.
Put the cream in a large bowl and whisk until very soft peaks start to form – take care not to take it too far. Gently stir in a third of the jam – again, take care not to overmix, or it might split – and refrigerate.
Put all the crumble ingredients in a medium bowl. With the tips of your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the mix comes together into a crumble consistency, then spread out on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for about 12 minutes, until golden-brown, then set aside to cool.
To assemble the fools, spoon half of the custard into six bowls or large glasses and top with half the cream, half the reserved jam and half the crumble mix. Repeat to build up a second layer of each, sprinkle with the remaining poppy seeds and serve.
Gooseberry slaw
A really punchy salad that works brilliantly with all sorts of rich or spicy main courses: fried chicken thighs, marinated slow-cooked lamb, barbecued tofu, pan-fried mackerel fillets – the list is almost endless. Serves six.
600g fresh gooseberries, trimmed and cut into 0.5cm rounds
30g caster sugar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 red chillies, finely diced
Salt
½ red cabbage (350g), thinly sliced
½ onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 carrots, peeled and shaved into long, thin strips (use a vegetable peeler)
150g mange tout, thinly sliced on an angle
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into julienne sticks
60ml lime juice
½ tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp groundnut oil
15g Thai basil, roughly torn (or 15g mint, shredded)
Put the gooseberries in a large bowl with the sugar, garlic, chilli and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt. Stir gently, so the gooseberries don’t break, and set aside for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Add all the remaining ingredients and an extra half-teaspoon of salt, give the slaw a good stir and serve.
Oven-dried gooseberries
We came up with these to go in the salsa with the tuna dish that follows, but they also work nicely as they are with fried mackerel or other oily fish. Makes about 100g dried berries.
300g gooseberries, fresh (or frozen and then defrosted)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp caster sugar
¼ tsp chilli flakes
Flaky sea salt
Heat the oven to its lowest setting (around 90C). Mix the gooseberries in a small bowl with the oil, sugar, chilli and a teaspoon of salt, then spread out on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for three and a half hours, until shrivelled but still slightly soft in the centre – the berries will look a bit like plump raisins. Remove and leave to cool.
Seared tuna with dried gooseberry salsa and anchovy sauce
A mixture of black and white sesame seeds looks great here, but use white only, if that’s all you have to hand. Serves four, as a generous starter.
600g skinless tuna loin
1 tsp celery seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
Flaky sea salt
3 tbsp olive oil
For the salsa
85g oven-dried gooseberries (see previous recipe)
1½ sticks celery, cut into 0.5cm dice, plus 10g celery leaves, finely chopped
10g mint leaves, finely chopped
10g parsley leaves, finely chopped
¼ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp elderflower cordial
2 tbsp olive oil
For the anchovy sauce
25g salted anchovies
30ml whole milk
50g soured cream
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of white pepper
Start with the anchovy sauce. Put the anchovies in a small bowl, cover with the milk and leave to soak and soften for 10 minutes. Strain, discard the milk and put the fish in the small bowl of a food processor. Add the soured cream, oil, lemon juice and white pepper, blitz until smooth, then tip into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
Just before cooking the fish, mix all the salsa ingredients in a bowl.
Now for the tuna. The loin is shaped like a long triangle, so cut off the top third and cut the remaining tuna in half, so you end up with three similar-sized pieces about 7cm long and 5cm wide.
In a shallow bowl, mix the celery seeds, sesame seeds and two teaspoons of salt. Use a tablespoon of oil to brush over the long sides of the tuna pieces, then roll the fish in the seed mix, to coat. Heat a medium frying pan on a high flame, add the remaining oil and, once hot, lay in the tuna pieces. Sear for 30 seconds on each side, until golden on the outside and still very rare in the centre.
Cut each piece of seared fish into four 1.5cm-thick slices, and lay three pieces on each plate. Spoon some salsa alongside, then drizzle over the sauce or serve it in a bowl on the side.
