Happy summer holiday season,  I hope you are all having a fabulous and fun time in the sun ! This month I did two recipes, there was just too much to choose from 🙂 Summer time is berry time, our native friends just don’t get any better than around this time of the year. Raspberries are particularly good at the moment, with deliciously sweet flavours and deep colours only plenty of summer sunshine can bring out of these little ‘woolly hat look a like ‘ antioxidant powerhouses . This can easily put you off buying them out of season because once you have tried a sweet and ripe raspberry in the summer, there is not going back 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raspberries are rich in minerals and vitamins and have shown to help balance blood sugar, making them the perfect afternoon snack or morning porridge addition. In fact, I love to have them in all shapes and forms,  just fresh from the punnet, even better if you can go and pick your own at a farm or in the wild, you can make delicious raw jams, puddings, cake fillings or cooling sorbets.  Because I bought a big bunch of mint for my broad bean recipe,  I decided to go for a mint and raspberry sorbet. This works perfectly well with a smooth and slightly fragrant almond and Inca berry cream, a dessert inspired by Amelia Freer’s Almond, Apricot and rose yogurt, so delicious, quick and easy. I chose Inca berries for their high protein and antioxidant content, apricots work super well too, just divine !!

And here is how it works:

Almond & Inca berry cream- serves 2-3
3 small cups of soaked and skinned almonds
3 table spoons of Inca berries soaked over night
1 cm of a vanilla pod added to the soaking water
1 cardamom pod pierced and added to the soaking water
1 tbsp of coconut oil
1/2 tbsp of psyllium husk (optional)
3-4 small cups of rice, coconut or almond milk mixed with soaking water

Method:
Soak Inca berries together with vanilla pod and cardamom over night, you only need to use a small amount of filtered or mineral water, enough to cover them well and leave space for them to expand in the soaking water.

Soak almonds over night and peel, place the peeled almonds back in a bowl and cover with water if you don’t use them straight away. Next place all soaked ingredients, including the content of the vanilla pod and three or four seeds from the cardamom pod in a blender, mix soaking water with rice milk ( 1 small cup of soaking water & 2 small coups of rice milk) and add these to the ingredients in the blender, blend until you get a creamy texture, add some more if you feel the cream it too thick. At the end add the psyllium husk,blend again until smooth, they will help  set the cream a bit more.

Fill the cream either in prepared small bowls or in a big serving bowl, which can be placed on the dining table for guests to help themselves after dinner. Before serving leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.

Raspberry & Mint sorbet – makes 10-12 sorbet balls

Ingredients:
200g organic fresh ripe and sweet raspberries ( just wash and put in the freezer for 2-3 hours or over night)
1 small handful of fresh mint leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Method:
Simply place the frozen raspberries, chopped mint and optional maple syrup in a blender and blend until you get a sorbet like texture. I find the ice cube setting on my blender works rather well for this. Because there is hardly any sugar in this sorbet, it is important to have sweet and ripe berries, and the sorbet is best prepared just before serving the dessert, otherwise you will rather have raspberry ice cubes.  So after blending use two spoons to form little balls, place on a tray with grease proof paper and only briefly put in the freezer to prevent melting. Serve on top of the almond and Inca berry cream.

Serve on top of the almond and Inca berry cream with some freshly chopped mint and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Bon Appetit !