A light blackberry ricotta recipe for early autumn: September berries roasted with honey and bay, spooned over cool whipped ricotta and crisp cobnuts.
Gluten-freeVegetarian
Serves4
Hands-on20 min,
Oven15 min
DifficultyEasy
Hedgerows are heavy with brambles by the middle of September, and this is the pudding to make when a walk has ended with stained fingers and a full tub. A short spell in a hot oven turns the fruit glossy and syrupy without cooking it down to a mush.
Why it’s so good: warm, winey berries and their dark syrup run into a cool cloud of ricotta, and toasted cobnuts give it a bit of crunch.
Make it easy: roast the berries and toast the nuts in the morning, then whip the ricotta and put it all together just before pudding.
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Pare 2 wide strips of zest from the lemon with a vegetable peeler and set the lemon aside. Pick over the blackberries and keep back 100g of the firmest ones to finish the pudding. Tip the rest into a small roasting tin, about 20cm, then add 3 tbsp honey, the bay leaves and the pared zest. Turn everything gently so the berries are coated.
Roast for 12-15 minutes, until the berries have slumped and given up a dark, glossy syrup but still hold their shape. For the last 5-6 minutes, slide in a small baking tray of chopped cobnuts to toast until fragrant and pale gold. Nuts colour quickly, so look at them after 4 minutes.
Tip the cobnuts onto a cold plate straight away so they stop cooking. Leave the blackberries to cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes; the syrup thickens as it cools, then lift out the bay leaves and the strips of zest.
Finely grate the remaining zest from the lemon into a mixing bowl and squeeze in 1 tbsp of its juice. Add the ricotta, yoghurt, 2 tbsp honey and the vanilla. Whisk by hand or with electric beaters for 1-2 minutes, until smooth, glossy and a little aerated. Taste, and add more honey if the ricotta is very fresh and sharp.
Divide the whipped ricotta between 4 shallow bowls or glasses and spread it out with the back of a spoon. Spoon the cooled blackberries and all their syrup over the top.
Scatter over the reserved raw blackberries and the toasted cobnuts. Serve within 30 minutes, while the nuts are still crisp.
Nutrition
Per serving (Serves 4)
Calories
295kcals
Fat
16g (6.6g saturated)
Protein
10g
Carbohydrates
30g (28g sugars)
Fibre
4.8g
Salt
0.2g
Quick wins, tips & make ahead
Roast the blackberries up to 2 days ahead and keep them covered in the fridge, then bring them back to room temperature so the syrup runs again. The whipped ricotta is at its lightest on the day it is made, though it will sit in the fridge for a few hours quite happily.
Everything here is naturally gluten-free, but check the labels on the yoghurt and the vanilla extract if you are cooking for someone coeliac. Ricotta is not always made with vegetarian rennet, so check that too if it matters.
Kentish cobnuts have a short season; hazelnuts, walnuts or flaked almonds all toast well in their place. Later in the autumn, the same treatment suits quartered plums or halved figs, which want 5 minutes longer in the oven.
