Fruity Adventures at Invergarry Lodge

It’s been two years since we planted our first fruit bushes at Invergarry Lodge, and this summer we got a fantastic first harvest of blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries.  This means we’ve been indulging in plenty of desserts, including a brioche summer pudding, an apple and blackcurrant oaty crumble and my very own gooseberry delight, made with slow-roasted gooseberries, almond meringues, whipped cream and a sprinkling of toasted oatmeal.

This week we have also begun to take advantage of the wild harvests around Invergarry, starting with the beautiful Chanterelle mushrooms which are plentiful (if you know where to look!) in the local forests.  With the help of some dried Porcinis, fresh basil and a handful of parmesan the Chanterelles made a fantastic wild mushroom risotto, and even Alby gave his portion (minus the Chanterelles) the thumbs up so it will definitely be appearing on our menu again!

We also recently spotted a bumper crop of wild raspberries along a nearby stretch of the Caledonian Canal, so we returned the following day with our tubs and collected enough for the aforementioned summer pudding with enough leftover to re-create Delia Smith’s delicious Raspberry and Pecan shortbreads:

All this and we haven’t even managed to get out for our annual bilberry harvest yet… if we make it in time we’ll  also be able to add bilberry jam to our list of 2010 culinary adventures.