Green Chilli Potato Cakes, Blackberry & Vodka Sorbet

~ Menu ~ 

Potato & Green Chilli Cake with Salted Cashews 
Pretty Salad with Honey Mustard & Lemon Dressing 
White Wine Spritzer 
Wild Blackberry & Vodka Sorbet
Coffee

Today when my stomach mentioned it was lunchtime I couldn’t think of anything to eat but then, zut alors, I found some leftover mash in the fridge. What luck! Immediately my meal became obvious – a Potato & Green Chilli Cake, of course.

Potato & Green Chilli Cake 

If I had been preparing potato specifically for this dish I would have mashed it with mayonnaise instead of butter and milk but this was leftovers and buggers can’t be choosers

1 portion of leftover mashed potato 
scant ½ teaspoon of Patak’s Chilli Pickle

~  Munge together the cold mashed potato and the chilli pickle.

~  Form into a cake shaped thing and fry in a little olive oil till crispy on both sides and hot right through.

Patak’s super-excellent and very hot Chilli Pickle is a pantry (or rather tiny fridge in our caravan) staple for me and I feel I might write quite a lot about it. My standard “pretty salad”, which will be appearing frequently, is lettuce, red onion, tomato, peppers and carrot tossed together. Today I dressed it with a little bought in honey mustard dressing mixed with a squirt of lemon juice. A few salted cashews on top, a refreshing spritzer on the side and Bob’s your uncle. 

Despite the summery lunch the good weather seems to have gone, I thought it would, its almost October. The forecast is for rain forever now but yesterday was still warm and sunny so I went on a last blackberry picking trip. I didn’t get many as it seems the Devil has already spat on them. When I got home with a paltry half a pound or so of fruit I made Blackberry & Vodka Sorbet just for the hell of it and today I had to give it a “test”. It was cold, sweet, melt in the mouth essence of blackberry; a perfect cheering-up pudding on a rainy day.

Blackberry & Vodka Sorbet

500g wild blackberries – picked over and stalks removed

80g sugar
80ml water

1 tablespoon vodka

~  In a small pan heat together the sugar and water, stirring, till the sugar has dissolved.

~  Turn up the heat and bring to a boil.

~  Add the prepared blackberries and return to a boil, stirring.

~  Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring from time to time, till the fruits start to burst. You can help them by mashing them against the side of the pan.

~  When the fruit is soft strain through a nylon sieve into a clean bowl, pressing on the fruit to squeeze every bit through the sieve, just leaving seeds.

~  Cool the blackberry syrup, stir in the vodka and pour into a shallow, preferably, metal dish.

~  Put in the freezer till almost frozen then stir and mash it about with a fork to break up any large crystals.

~  Freeze solid.

I have written a sorbet recipe book,  series, giving many more easy no churn sorbet recipes