Gooseberry and elderflower pies

I love the ease of a free-form fruit pie. No need for a tin or dish; just gather up the sides of the pastry and carefully press around the filling. You've essentially created a scruffy-looking pastry bowl; one that looks all the better for it's irregularity and absence of uniformity. Gooseberries are at their best right now; there's a wonderful Pick Your Own just down the road from us, and these little jade marvels were half the price of the Strawberries a few rows down - always a bonus. Makes 4 small pies.

700g Gooseberries
100g Granulated sugar
A generous splash of Elderflower cordial
600g Shortcrust pastry
1 Egg, beaten
Demerara sugar

1 Heat your oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Simmer the gooseberries on a low heat with the sugar and elderflower cordial for about 5 minutes; the berries need to soften slightly but still retain their shape.
2 Roll the pastry out on a floured surface until approximately 3mm thick. Place a dinner plate onto the pastry before trimming to leave a circular disc of pastry. Gently position a smaller, saucer-sized plate in the centre of the disc, then use the blunt back edge of a knife to lightly score an inner circle.
3 Spoon gooseberries into the inner circle, taking care not to go over the score line. Bring the pastry sides up around the sides of the filling, then shape around the fruit. If the filling sits a bit low in the pie once the sides have been brought up, spoon in a few more gooseberries. Brush the pastry with beaten egg, then sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
4 Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crumbly. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Elderflower Margarita

If you've been out picking Elderflowers to make cordial over the last few weeks, here's a quick idea that'll make good use of some of your batch. It's a variation on a classic Margarita - personally, I tend to steer clear of Triple Sec that's often used too (bad experience in my youth). It matters not though - Tequila and Elderflower get on fabulously well.

50ml Tequila

15ml Elderflower cordial

Juice of two Limes

Crushed Maldon Sea Salt

Rub the rim of a glass with half a cut lime, then dip in salt. Rattle the ingredients together in a cockail shaker with a few ice cubes, then serve immediately.

Try this Elderflower cordial recipe

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Strawberry & Elderflower Eton Mess

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Recipe & food styling: the chefs at Tudor Farmhouse Hotel, Gloucestershire

Elderflower cordial

It’s the first port of call for many when the elderflowers emerge each year, and for good reason. I’m working on some unusual ways of using elderflower with meat at the moment (stick with me here), but for the moment here’s a recipe for the classic cordial.

For a quick and refreshing cocktail, mix 1 shot of vodka, a splash of elderflower cordial, mint leaves, sliced cucumber and ice in the bottom of high ball glass, then top up with soda water. It's a quencher.

Elderflower cordial

25 Elderflower heads

2kg Granulated sugar

3 Pints boiling water

1 Unwaxed lemon

1 Unwaxed orange

50g Citric acid

Add the sugar to large bowl/pan and pour over the boiling water. Stir to dissolve, then add the zest and juice of the lemon and orange. Give the elderflowers a little shake outside to get rid of any bugs, then stir into the sugary syrup. Cover with a cloth and leave for 24 hours. Strain through muslin and decant into sterilised bottles*.

* Make them strong bottles. One of mine exploded once; it was not in the slightest bit amusing.