Gooseberry puddings

I think these have a bit of a vintage feel to them. I can imagine these being baked in an Edwardian kitchen or even in a big Victorian manor house. Of course there they would be baking them individually in little pudding basins and then carefully turning them out onto dainty plates to be served.

Gooseberry puddings


250g gooseberries
1 vanilla bean
5-7 cardamom pods
4 eggs
100g ground almonds
100g sugar
100g butter
2tbsp Cognac
120g cream cheese


Take a saucepan and a mixing bowl. Carefully halve the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and put them into the bowl, then toss the scraped bean into the saucepan.

Top and tail the gooseberries and add to the saucepan with the cardamom and a spoonful of sugar. Cook this over a low heat for about 15 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the berries soften a little but are still holding their shape. Set aside and let cool.

Crack the eggs into the mixing bowl, add the sugar and ground almonds and whisk through. Next, melt the butter and pour it into the batter while you keep whisking.

Add the Cognac and whisk until your batter seems smooth. Lastly, add the cream cheese and mix only a little.

Place a layer of gooseberries on the bottom of four ramekins or teacups and divide the batter among them. Scatter some more gooseberries on top and bake in a 180C oven for 30 minutes.

As gooseberries were starting to ripen and I also had half a bottle of elderflower cordial lurking in the fridge, I started to ponder how to combine them.
I put my thinking cap on and the idea was born - mignonne elderflower and gooseberry tartlets.

Buttery pastry cases filled with elderflower mousse and topped with gooseberries dipped in elderflower geleé.

Best to use homemade cordial because it has so much more flavour!
A wasp also wanted to take a bite while I was eating the first tartlet.

Pastry
225g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
140g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk, whisked with 2 tbsp water

Sieve flour into a bowl of a food processor. Add sugar, salt and butter. Whiz until coarse crumbs form. Add the whisked egg yolk and whiz for a few more moments.
Place the pastry on a lightly floured surface and knead for half a minute. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to chill, for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm. Take a 13cm cutter and cut out 6 circles for six 10cm tartlet tins. You might have to use scraps for the last one.

Blind bake the cases for 15 minutes, remove the parchment and bake for 5 more minutes. Let cool.

Mousse (adopted from the Noma cookbook)
90ml double cream
1 egg white
sugar
2 sheets gelatine, about 3g
40ml elderflower cordial
100g curd cheese paste
about 350g gooseberries

Soak gelatine in cold water. Heat the elderflower cordial to about 40C-45C. Mix gelatine into the warm cordial until melted.

Whisk double cream and the egg white to stiff peaks, in separate bowls. Add some caster sugar to the egg white when half way there.

Mix cordial with the curd cheese. Gently fold in the whipped cream and egg white. Let stand in the fridge for about 25 minutes. Use a piping bag to generously fill the pastry cases. Top with ripe gooseberries. Place in the fridge or freezer to cool.

To serve
90ml elderflower cordial
1 sheet gelatine

Soak the gelatine in cold water. Heat half of the cordial. Mix gelatine into the warm cordial until melted. Add the rest of the cordial. Cool.

Take the tartlets out of the fridge/freezer one by one. They must be cold in order to jelly the geleé right away. Drizzle the cooled cordial over the cold tartlets, slowly, covering every berry. There should be a tablespoon for every tartlet. Place back in the fridge until ready to serve.