No sooner than the Irish phrase sméar dubh is uttered, the cúpla focail come rolling off my tongue. It is of course the Irish word for blackberry. I recall primary school books with beautiful illustrations of carefree children with white socks, tartan kilts and wool cardigans out blackberry picking (sméara dubha a bhaint). Invariably, the plot centred on a shirt getting stained with blackberry juice. No one ever got into trouble. Swear words were not taught to jackeens in those days.
There is no secret to finding the right hedgerow filled with luscious blackberries. You come across them by chance and usually in the hardest-to-reach areas with rampant growth. Even today, blackberry picking raises the spirits. A good haul will fill more tubs with blackberries than you can eat.
Adding blackberries into warm porridge is delicious. In the past, hand-picked blackberries were industriously crafted into bramble jelly and, the ultimate childhood staple, crumble. The use of oats and breadcrumbs allowed the family bakers to stretch the topping to feed impossibly large families (it was cheaper than making pastry).
Blackberry crumble with hand-picked blackberries from the hedgerows offers the surest taste of place when it comes to Irish food. Although the summer weather is never guaranteed, the blackberries will never fail. Combining garden fruits available at this time of year, such as apples and plums, with blackberries is a good way to stretch berries if they are in short supply.
The holy grail of crumble baking is the chewy rim of fruity lava oozing through the crumble top. Whoever is doing the washing up won’t thank you, but they will forgive you as they prise the final scrapings from the dish. My preference is to substitute ground almonds for flour in my crumbles. Flour will do just as well but ensure the crumble is fully cooked to remove any taste of raw flour. Granny Smith apples can be used in place of cooking apples and, because dessert apples are sweeter, less sugar can be added to the filling. Serve with natural yoghurt, ice-cream, whipped cream or, if you went to boarding school, custard.
Variation
It is very easy to adapt both the fruit filling ingredients and crumble topping for special diets. Use honey or agave instead of sugar; flour instead of ground almonds; coconut oil instead of butter. Nuts can be omitted altogether and seeds used in the topping. Gluten-free oats are now readily available.
Blackberry and apple crumble
Serves four
For the filling
2-3 cooking apples, peeled and cubed (approx 500g) (or dessert apples)
30g butter (plus extra for greasing)
50g soft brown sugar
½ lemon, zest and juice of
250g-300g blackberries
For the topping
75g porridge oats
50g ground almonds
25g soft brown sugar
60g butter, melted
30g flaked almonds, lightly toasted
30g chopped hazelnuts, lightly toasted
100ml whipped cream, to serve
1 Preheat oven to 190 Celsius fan. Grease a medium-sized ovenproof dish.
2 In a saucepan, gently melt the butter and sugar. Add in the cubed apples, lemon juice and zest. Cook for 5-7 minutes on a medium high heat (the apples should still be al dente and retain their shape).
3 Remove from the heat and gently fold in two-thirds of the blackberries until their juices start to run into the apples. Taste and adjust to your desired sweetness adding more sugar if needed.
4 Transfer the fruit filling into a greased ovenproof dish (or you can do individual pots as I have for the photoshoot). Dot the remaining blackberries over the top of the fruit filling.
5 For the crumble topping, combine the oats, ground almonds and sugar in a mixing bowl. Melt the butter and, while it is still hot, stir it into the mixture so it is evenly coated. Lastly stir in the toasted almonds and hazelnuts.
6 Arrange the crumble mixture over the top of the fruit.
7 Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (loosely covering with tinfoil after 15 minutes, if needed to keep the crumble from over-browning). When the crumble is golden and bubbling around the edges, it is done. Serve hot.
