Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

Afternoon everyone. Well, I used up the last of my Rhubarb dishes from the freezer at the weekend, There would, in fact, have been enough for the two of us for a further week, but I didn't take into account a pending visit from 4 hungry grandchildren. So, wanting to treat he who must obey with a dessert after dinner a couple of times a week, and with my own penchant for wanting a lovely, tangy, mouthwatering dessert in this warm weather but is very light and stops me from feeling guilty after eating it, I looked through my recipes for Gooseberry Fool that I had in my dog-eared Recipe folder.(I'm sure one of them came from Delia). One is a Cheat's recipe and one is the one I use for just us and as a dessert for anyone who may come for dinner. I promise you, both are equally delicious.

Goosegogs as we call them around here are in season from May to September. I make a big batch of the luxury Gooseberry fool and freeze it in a large container.
Here then with both recipes.

CHEATS GOOSEBERRY FOOL (this makes 4 servings and ready in 5 minutes.)
INGREDIENTS.
1 tin of Gooseberries in syrup
1 tin of ready made Custard
1 small tin cream.
METHOD.
Strain the gooseberries but reserve the juice.
Mash the gooseberries and add the custard, stirring it together
Add the small tin of cream. If the mixture is a little too thick, add some of the reserved syrup.
Transfer to small sundae dishes, cover with clingfilm and chill for a minimum of 1 hour.
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LUXURY GOOSEBERRY FOOL (this makes 3 servings. for 6 servings just double up ingredients)

Preheat your oven to 350/180/Gas 4/Fan 160.
You will need a shallow oven tray or dish plus 3 Sundae Glasses.
INGREDIENTS.
4.5g (1lb) of fresh gooseberries (topped and tailed with scissors)
137.5g (5oz) Greek Yoghurt (don't worry if you don't like yoghurt. You don't taste it at all!)
75g (2.5oz) Caster Sugar
METHOD.
Place the gooseberries onto the tray and bake them in the centre of the oven for up to 30 minutes or until they are nice and soft when you test them with a skewer.
When you are happy they are nice and soft, tip them into a sieve over a bowl to get rid of any excess juice.(Again, I freeze the excess juice to use again when making cheat's gooseberry fool.
Keep back 1/4 of the gooseberries for later, tip the rest into a bowl, sprinkle with the caster sugar and whizz up either in a blender, with electric hand mixer or even a fork until it is like a puree.
Now shove the bowl of Gooseberry puree into the fridge to get quite cold.
Empty the Greek Yoghurt into a bowl and stir it. Then fold in just 1/2 of the puree until combined, Add the other half of the Puree and the then the 1/4 of the gooseberries you held back.
Pour into the 3 Sundae glasses, cover with cling film and pop into the fridge until you want to serve them. I make them look posh by plonking a mint leaf on top as in the pic. Tastes absolutely yum I promise.
It's a really light, refreshing dessert for afters during the summer. Hope you enjoy either recipe if you try them.

The first pic is the Cheat's Gooseberry Fool.

Re: Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

My Achilles heel, not got a sweet tooth but this and Tiramisu, yummy for nommy.

Re: Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

LOL Nom, I'm like you, I don't have a sweet tooth, much prefer savoury. I am one of those if choosing a dessert when eating out ,usually can never find a dish that appeals to me and I end up saying "Oh, you have what you are having and I will have a little taste of it" simply because most things on the menu are soooooooo sickly sweet.
I much prefer dishes with gooseberry, rhubarb or sharp lemon because they have a lovely sharp, not toooooo sweet teste.

Re: Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

Sounds lovely sadly I'm the only goosegogs fan here no one else likes them

Re: Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

That's a shame Julie, some of my relatives were averse to eating Gooseberry Pie as well, so the next time I made one I did it with a Meringue topping. It was so sweet, (too sweet for my taste) I also whipped up some double cream to serve with it. They wolfed it down because of the dominant sweetness.

I do feel sorry for the gooseberry though. It's treated like Marmite. You either love it or dislike it. I absolutely love it, almost as much as Rhubarb. I make Cobbler, Crumble, Pie and Fools with it. Mind you, Mum and Dad had two gooseberry bushes in our garden and they were laden with the hugest, fattest, almost red gooseberries, hence my liking for them ever since. They had blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes as well though I never see many recipes for these either.

Never mind Julie, I will think of poor you when I am guzzling my gooseberry fool. xx

Re: Mmmmmmmmmm, Gooseberry Fool.

Always wanted to try Quince,as its not too sweet so may appeal to my taste buds.