Cooking With Red Currants - Public Domain
Red currant jelly is a traditional accompaniment to game and meat dishes and helps use up a surplus from the kitchen garden. But what else can be made with this fruit?
Established red currant bushes start producing ripe fruit around about mid summer. These little red berries are high in dietary fibre and vitamin C. They are usually made into red currant jelly which can be served as an accompaniment to game and meat dishes such as lamb cutlets with a red currant glaze or added to a bowl of rice pudding for a bit of extra sweetness. They can, though, be used in other recipes – a couple of which are offered here.
Recipe for Redcurrant Mousse
Ingredients:
- 8oz fresh red currants
- 6 fl oz double or whipping cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 whisked egg whites
- Sugar to taste
Method:
- Whip the cream until it’s stiff
- Gently cook the red currants in 2 tablespoons of water until they are just soft
- Whisk them into a puree then put the puree, along with the sugar and egg yolks, into a bowl
- Put the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and whisk the mixture until it’s thick enough to leave the impression of the whisk in it for a couple of seconds
- Take the bowl off the saucepan and continue whisking the mixture until it’s cooled.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff then fold them and the cream into the fruit mixture
- Put the mousse into one large, or several individual, serving dishes then leave in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Recipe for Red Currant Semolina Cake
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs, separated
- 6 fl oz double or whipping cream
- 4 oz red currants
- 4 oz caster sugar
- 2 oz semolina
- 1 level tbsp ground almond
- Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
Method:
- Take an 8” x 12” Swiss roll type baking tin and line it with enough baking parchment or greaseproof paper so that some of it hangs over the sides of the tin
- Grease the paper with a little bit of butter or margarine and dust with a mixture of caster sugar and flour
- Add the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until all combined.
- Add the grated lemon rind, semolina and ground almonds and stir well
- Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff (like for meringue) and fold into the semolina and almond mixture
- Pour into the baking tray, even it out and bake at gas mark 4, 180 C, 350 F for about half an hour until it’s nicely golden
- Let it cool for a couple of minutes then turn out onto another piece of sugar and flour dusted baking parchment or greaseproof paper
- Carefully roll the cake into a Swiss roll type shape (so that the paper rolls up with it) and allow it to cool
- When it’s cold, whisk the cream so that it’s just about firm and stir the red currants into it
- Gently unroll the cake and spread the cream and currant mixture on it before re-rolling again
Copyright Elaine Findlay. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Elaine Findlay - An expert cook, Findlay's passion for food is evidenced by the size of her kitchen and her library of old recipe books
