FLOWER POT KITCHEN: CHOCOLATE MINT CUSTARD WITH GARDEN BERRIES

1 Jul 2017

CHOCOLATE MINT CUSTARD WITH GARDEN BERRIES

Having a glut of glorious eggs from our chickens is a lovely challenge to try new recipe ideas, having our tea in the garden just sitting amoung the fruit trees gazing down the vegetable and herb garden, listening to our chickens this morning gave rise to what needed to be eaten, this is a lovey feeling of what has the garden got for us today!

Creme Anglaise custard infused with chocolate mint just set poured over what berries are ready, this morning it was gooseberries, blackcurrents, raspberries and blueberries. A simple but yielding pudding with only a couple of larder items required.

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 5 minutes / Chilling time 2 hrs

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

300g mixed berries

500ml full fat milk

120g caster sugar

6 egg yolks

30 mint leaves (chocolate mint optional)

This is really simple, the key to success in this is not to rush the cooking of the custard, trust yourself and your spatula it will thicken, it is one of those moments when 3 minutes feels like 10!

Place the milk, half the sugar and all the mint leaves in a saucepan, mix together so that the sugar has dissolved then bring to a hot temperature but without simmering, just when you see steam arising take off the heat.

In a large bowl or jug place the egg yolks and remaining sugar, whisk until light and fluffy with ribbons, you will see a slight lighter colour change, next pour over the hot milk and whisk all the time so as not to cook the eggs.

Pour the mixture back in to the saucepan and place on a low medium heat, keep stirring all the time, it is important not to leave the custard at this point. To much heat too quickly will leave you with scrambled egg custard no a pleasant thing indeed!

Over the next 3 minutes or so you will feel the custard start to thicken, when you can coat the back of the spatula and draw a line through the custard and it stays separated your custard is cooked, take off the heat and pass through a sieve.

Place your fruit in your serving bowls and pour over the creme anglaise, pop in the fridge to chill and set, this custard will remain a little wobbly which is how my hubby likes it.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.