Blackberry, Apple and Chia seed jam (no sugar!)

It's coming into the Autumn time and the blackberries are out! I picked loads this year and made some jam and an apple pie.This time I decided to make it completely natural and sugar free jam.
Make sure when you pick the berries that they don't come off the stem too easily or are too difficult to pull off. It means they are not good enough to eat or aren't ripe enough yet. Soak the berries in water over night while changing the water a few times if you can to make sure they are extra clean.

Ingredients:
-Blackberries
-Cooking apples
-Honey
-Chia Seeds

So first I peeled and stewed the apples with the blackberries. (roughly x3 apples to x200g of berries)I then let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add a few table spoons of honey.
Blackberries can be quite bitter so the honey takes this away making it more sweet.
Take off the heat. A few table spoons of Chia Seeds depending on how much you Have made. The Chia Seeds help set the jam as there is no sugar in it to make it set.

So enjoy this tasty Sugar Free jam without feeling guilty! It's yummy in yoghurt, porridge, bread, scones,!
If you want to have dairy free cream with it, whip up some coconut milk ;)


Holly
Xox

Dutch Style Apple and Blackberry Pie

I've always wanted to make a Dutch Style Apple so I gave it a shot the other day. This specific type of pie is known from or its lattice designed n on top. I have searched high and low to find out did it mean anything but I couldn't find anything to explain this. Now I was warned by my friend Aisling how difficult it was to actually do the lattice but there was no stopping me at that stage! So since its coming into late September,I picked blackberries and let them soak over night while changing the water a few times to make sure they were extra clean!

What you will need:
A circular pie dish where you can push up the end

For the Pastry:
-280gr of flour
-168gr of butter or margarine
-168gr of castor sugar
-1 egg
(Flour for dusting)

For the Filling:
- 3-4 cooking apples
-60g of sugar (or less/more depending on your sweet tooth)
-Cinnamon (to taste)
-Blackberries
- Flour
To make the pastry:
-Leave the butter at room temperature until soft. Cut into small pieces and add it in a bowl with the flour and castor sugar.
-Rub the mix together until it turns into a crumb texture. Rub with only using the tops of your fingers or else the temperature of the mix will ruined if you use your hands.
When I first started rubbing pastry my fingers used to always hurt and my patience was really going through the roof but believe me , it really does pay off.

Teaching my little sister Eve how to rub the mix

-When it is a crumb mixture , quickly crack your egg into a SEPERATE bowl  and mix it. Add to the crumb mixture bit by bit. Not all of it because you might need to use all of it! So fold the wet mix in the bowl and keep working it for a while until it comes to a ball of pastry. If it's too dry add more of the egg in.
Note: It will be sticky if it's too wet

-Dust your clean work space with flour and put the ball of dough on top. Dust the pastry with flour. ---Rub flour around your rolling pin to stop the pastry from sticking to it
-Roll out your pastry. Never ever turn the pastry upside down. When you've rolled out on section , rotate it and roll out.
-This pastry can be a bit tricky to work with as you want it half a centimetre thick and need to get it into the pastry dish. It is the type of pastry where if it does break you can patch in some pieces and make it stick together!
-Grease your pie dish and pop the pastry in . Dock it with a fork.

For the filling: 
Cut up the apples and let them soften in a pit with the blackberries. I only like my apples soft the twist they just stew and lose shape in the tart. Add a pinch of cinnamon and sugar. Taste and add more sugar if you like it sweeter. Take it off the heat and add flour just to coat all the mix. This help stops all the juices running out and making the pie wet and soggy !!!
Put the filling into the dish and now you can start your lattice design

Roll out the leftover pastry and cut strips out of it . Literally overlap and underlap each strip. This has to be quick work because the pastry will begin to fall apart  !
Brush with egg wash and bake for 1 hour at 150c.

I did the lattice design the hard way. But there is an alternative faster way such as using a lattice cutter or using a pizza cutter!! Next time I will try this way and see if it works better. 

The pie turned out fantastic for my first attempt and tasted lovely as well. Well so my friends and family told me anyway !! Goes perfect with some ice cream and a cup of tea !!perfect for cosy Autumn evenings.  

Holly
Xox

Baked Hake and Blue cheese spiced tomatoe sauce

Oooohhh it's been awhile since I've had fish, especially Hake! Got these gorgeous massive pieces in O Connels in the English Market this morning. I didn't have a clue and did not plan what I was going to put with it so I had to rummage through the cupboards to try make something nice.

 To cook the hake.

I first put a pan on  with a good squeeze of oil in it until it's just about smoking hot. I then place the hake in, skin side down and leave sizzle for a few minutes. I seasoned it with cracked black pepper! After a while (until the skin is nice and Crispy). I turned the fish for two minutes. I then placed the fish into tin foil with some butter and a squeeze of lemon and out into the oven u til cooked through. This will depend on the size! 

The sauce..

So basically whatever I found in the cupboard and fridge that I thought would go together.I got a tin of chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, onions, olives, spices ( cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, paprika, cayenne)  I toasted the spices first and fried off the onions. Added the blue cheese in last. ( cashel Blue Is best blue cheese to get here which is sourced locally. Aaahhh so tasty! I had to put it in. The best part is when it starts to melt and you an see all the stringy bits!) let it simmer for ten minutes and serve over the Hake. 

This dish was gluten free and full of protein from the fish and chickpeas. How ever it was not Dairy free.  Goats cheese and feta cheese are perfect alternatives if you wanted to add them.

I didn't do so bad for making the most out of what I had at home. Usually I'd spend forever going out and trying to get every ingredient to make something. Goes to show you don't know what you could come up by using what's there :-)