Blackberry Vodka

With the frankly embarrassing surplus of blackberries in our house at the moment, we have been trying to find ways of using them up. So what better than the use of them to make cheap alcohol great?!

This is one of the most simple 'recipes'... it is more of an assembly job, combining everything together in a 700ml (or larger) Kilner jar then leaving it for 6 weeks or so.

The only thing I would suggest at this stage is that you make sure that the Kilner jar is sterilised with boiling water, or even better, the same kind of steriliser powder used for home brewing.

After combining all the ingredients, seal the jar then shake vigorously. Don't worry if all the sugar doesn't dissolve straight away as it will over time. Store in a cool dark place, shaking twice a week to start off with, then once a week will suffice.

After six weeks or so remove the fruit, as black-berries have a core that you won't want to be drinking, which can start to turn your delicious future beverage more bitter and unpleasant. Strain the contents of the jar through a sieve and then a muslin cloth if needed, before re-bottling into a tight bottle. It will keep for up to a year. Oh, and keep the strained vodka fruits for puddings.


You can follow this recipe for any soft fruit by following the the same weights: depending on the fruit you might want to change the amount of sugar added, to make things sharper or sweeter, but the end result will be pretty forgiving.

Slainte

Jim

Sunday Lunch: Duck Legs and Roast Potatoes

Sunday for me is the best day for food - having all weekend to think about what you're going to cook and the time to actually prepare it is a luxury that I try to commit to. This week, we had roast duck legs with roast potatoes and a mixed leaf and orange salad.

Often our meat comes from reduced sections of supermarkets, mainly Waitrose (which is on the walk home from work). As long as you use the meat relatively quickly or go straight to the freezer with it, it is always tip top. On this occasion we happened upon some roast Gressingham duck legs that were about half the price.

Starting the chopped potatoes first from raw, with finely chopped fresh oregano, rosemary, thyme, chilli, garlic, olive oil and salt and roast for between forty minutes and an hour. 

Whilst the duck was already cooked, we re-roasted it so that it was properly warm with a glaze of orange juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil for 20 minutes.

We served with runner beans and a mixed leaf salad, with segmented orange and a similar dressing to the glaze initially added to the duck.

The end result looked like the photo to the right.

Below is a Vine post of the method, I apologise for the jumpiness and for my voice, I will work on it for the future.


And here is Laura's dessert offering - home-made apple and blackberry crumble, with the fruit all coming from our own allotment. Turned out pretty well considering the oven was on the grill setting!

With food we drank a glass of Blandford Flyer, a sweet fragrant brew from Badger Brewery and one of my favourite bottled beers ever, but a nice glass of Pinot Noir would also complete the deal.

Slainte

Jim