Tag Archives: blackberry

Pear and Blackberry Crumble

9 Nov

My nephew likes pears… but these pears at my sister’s house were DRY!!!! Dry, dry, dry… and tasteless. So I decided to make a dessert out of it. I can’t stand to waste food… and organic at that.

I forgot to take a picture of the final product… but the results were pretty different from the original raw fruit. The filling for this crumble came out juicy and sweet and a bit tangy with the addition of the lime juice. That tang balances the sweetness in the fruit and the sugar.

If the pears would’ve been juicy to begin with, maybe you can delete the extra juice. But I just wanted to show you how you can transform a not so delicious fruit into a delectable dessert.

PEAR AND BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE

2 pears, peeled and cut into small pieces
10 blackberries
The juice of 1 lime, you can add some zest if you want too
2 tbs orange or apple juice, especially if the pears are a bit dry… like mine were
2 tbs of organic or brown sugar for the fruits, plus 3 additional heaping tbs for the topping
Pinch of salt
1 heaping tbs cornstarch
2 heaping tbs of spelt flour
2 heaping tbs of butter ( I used softened butter)
1 packet of organic instant maple oatmeal
A handful of walnuts

 

Does it show that when I was making the recipe I only had a soup spoon available??? So it’s all measured by the spoonful…

  1. Pre-heat oven at 350F.
  2. Just place the fruit in a medium pyrex glass baking dish. Add the apple or orange juice. Sprinkle on top the sugar, cornstarch, lime zest, lime juice and the pinch of salt. Mix well together.
  3. On a separate bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, sugar, walnuts and butter. Using a fork, mash the butter into the flour/oatmeal mixture. It’ll become like the texture of wet sand. When it feels like that, add it on top of the cut fruits.
  4. Bake for about 30 minutes, until you see the juices of the fruit bubbling and the top is golden brown.

 

I always leave in the oven until we’re about to eat. I like it warm… with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

 

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Ricotta and Berries

10 Jun

My favorite breakfasts include fruits… especially now that we’re starting summer and the berries are all in season.

Last week we spent a few days at my sister’s home and I love going to the farmer’s market to get a bunch of berries to serve at breakfast. But eating strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on their own may seem to you a little boring. Why not mix them up with a little cheese??

Italians use ricotta cheese in both savory and sweet dishes… morning, noon and night. So taking a little inspiration from the land of the mammas, here’s my latest breakfast concoction.

RICOTTA AND BERRIES

Mix your favorite fresh berries – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, sometimes you could even add grape tomatoes. Hey, they’re berries too!!
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbs agave nectar, plus more to drizzle on top
  1. Mix in a bowl the ricotta cheese and the agave nectar to give it some sweetness.
  2. Add your favorite mix of berries.
  3. Drizzle some additional agave nectar on top.

 

It’s creamy and tangy at the same time… you could also use honey if you prefer instead of the agave nectar.

Berries and Tomatoes... go well together!!!

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Very Berry Sorbet

23 Jun

This week summer started officially, according to the calendar, because in Puerto Rico summer started since April, during Holy Week/Easter.  We have been feeling the heat for weeks…

To celebrate the “official” start of summer, our friends at Serious Eats encouraged us to share with them our favorite frozen treats in a feature Ice Cream Social.  I am a social person… and I have been meaning to make a berry sorbet for the longest time, so what better excuse than to share it with all my Serious Eats friends.

The cool thing… it only has 4 ingredients if you count the water and you only need a food processor and a freezer to make this sorbet.  I do not have an ice cream maker because my kitchen is so small I do not have the space for another gadget, so just like Alton Brown we need to multitask.  And nothing beats this in the natural and refreshing department – it only has berries and agave nectar…  Take that Häagen Dazs!!!!

 

VERY BERRY SORBET

8 frozen strawberries
24 frozen blackberries
¼ cup of water
1/3 cup of agave nectar
 

 

  1. Dissolve the agave nectar into the water.
  2. Place the frozen berries in a food processor.  I cut the strawberries in quarters to make them more even in size with the blackberries.

  1. Pulse your food processor a few times to start mashing the berries.  After a few pulses, let it process normally and pour the water and agave nectar mixture through the chute on the top.  You’ll see how the berries will turn into a slushy.
  3. If you’re not fond of sorbet with seeds, pass the mixture thru a sieve to remove as much of the seeds as possible.  If you don’t mind them, skip this step.
  4. Place in an airtight container and freeze for about 2-3 hours before serving. 

 

This recipe made about 2 cups of sorbet and it is super easy and super refreshing…  I use frozen berries I buy fresh and freeze them myself.  It’s super convenient to make smoothies at home and certainly to make this frozen treat.

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