In 1995, to celebrate its 60^th anniversary, Penguin Books published a series of small, pocket sized books known as the Penguin 60s series. There were 2 main sets, each of 60 books, one of “classics” (with black spines) and one of 20^th century and contemporary writers (with orange spines). To keep the “60” theme going, in the UK they cost 60p each (about 78c at today’s exchange rate). As avid bookworms we couldn’t resist them.

Penguin also published small sets of these books on specific themes: children’s books, biography, travel and cookery.

Although just consisting of ten small books, the cookery series featured some of my favourite British food writers such as Elizabeth David, Nigel Slater and both Jane and Sophie Grigson. They are handy little volumes which I still thumb through when looking for inspiration, regularly spotting recipes that had escaped my notice on previous occasions.

So it was that I recently spotted a recipe from Sophie Grigson for marmalade ice cream that I’d never noticed before.

We have just finished marmalade season. While much of the preserving calendar revolves around storing the bounty of summer, the season for fragrant Seville oranges is from around December to February so in the Northern hemisphere it provides a preserving opportunity in the middle of winter, filling the kitchen with the glorious bitter sweet aroma of the Sevilles as they transform into thick, sweet marmalade. 

As I generate a new set of jars for my store cupboard it is a good time to see how much I have left from last year’s batch and come up with ideas to use it up. As Sophie says herself, her recipe is “a good way to clear the shelves, before the winter’s new arrivals”.

Seville orange marmalade is of course wonderful when simply spread onto hot buttered toast. But it is also a versatile ingredient. You can use it in cakes or cookies, make a glaze for meats or vegetables, or even use it in cocktails or to make chocolates.

The ice cream recipe only has two ingredients and seemed fairly simple so I couldn’t resist.

The recipe tells you to put 12oz of marmalade in a bowl and “beat”. If your marmalade has fairly big pieces of peel in it you might want to chop it up a little or even give it a quick blast in a food processor to give you a smoother texture in the final ice cream.

Then whip 10oz of heavy cream (double cream in the UK) until it is stiff, fold it into the marmalade and put the mixture in the freezer. It doesn’t require stirring or beating as it freezes and can be served directly from the freezer.

It really is that simple and a delicious blend of creamy, sweet and bitter.

As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of turning surplus fruit into alcoholic beverages, such as strawberry bourbon or strawberry liqueur. Years ago when I lived in London I was fortunate to be just a few minutes walk from woodland which would be abundant with sloes and blackberries in the late summer and autumn. The classic English tipple of sloe gin was my introduction to the alchemy of infusing fruit in alcohol to create something wonderful.

Since those days I have expanded my repertoire of fruit infusions. Most of them follow the simple method used for making sloe gin but occasionally I seek out a new recipe idea or technique. One great resource for this is “River Cottage Booze” by John Wright, a renowned forager from across the pond who regularly writes in The Guardian as well as appearing on River Cottage TV programmes. It was from him that I found this recipe for blackberry whisky. I recently bottled some after a long infusion, and whilst the bottles will now quietly mature for another year or two, I had the more immediate reward of a batch of whisky infused blackberries.

My answer of what to do with them was inspired by the Scottish dessert of cranachan, traditionally made with whipped cream, whisky, honey, raspberries and oats. Usually, the whisky is added to the whipped cream but as I already had blackberries that had been soaking in whisky for many months I felt I had enough alcohol in the dish. After their long infusion the blackberries tasted good but had lost a little of their colour and were a little on the dull side in terms of appearance, so I crushed all of them to stir into the dish. If using fresh fruit you can reserve some for garnish.

Whisky-Infused Blackberry Cranachan

1oz oats

4oz whisky infused blackberries

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tbs honey

Put the oats on a baking tray under a moderate grill for 8-10 minutes, turning frequently, until they are lightly toasted.

Crush the whisky infused blackberries.

Whip the heavy whipping cream until thick. I used a stand mixer but you could do it by hand or use a hand held electric mixer.

Once the cream is thick, stir in the honey, and then gently fold in the oats followed by the fruit.

Spoon into two serving dishes and serve immediately.