Chicken Salad with Raspberry Dressing

This was a yummy salad. It used up some of the loganberries that I picked from my garden in the summer. I added the veggies to the salad as I needed to eat them and I love to throw green veg in anywhere I can!

Chicken Salad with Raspberry Dressing (adapted from Waitrose Kitchen Magazine)
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp oil
150g bread, torn into chunks
6 chicken thigh fillets
salad leaves
veg (beans, broccoli, peas), cooked and cooled
1 shallot, sliced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
150g raspberries

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and add the bread, fry for 2-3 mins until golden.

Rub the chicken with 1/2 tbsp oil, season and fry for 4-6 mins on each side until cooked through. Cover with foil and set aside to rest.

Meanwhile, arrange the salad leaves and the veg on a platter, top with the croutons.

Add the last 1 tbs oil to the pan and fry the shallot for 2 mins, until softened. Add the vinegar and the raspberries, then warm over a low heat until the berries start to burst. Season, then slice the chicken and add it back in to the pan. Spoon over the salad and serve.

Jumbleberry Crumble

For pudding I made a berry crumble. I used a mixture or loganberries and blueberries from my garden, blackberries from Walthamstow Marshes and strawberries from the supermarket as I never get a very good crop of strawberries. This was delicious, I love a crumble and the mixture before I baked it looked so pretty, just like jewels.

Jumbleberry Crumble (from Good Food Magazine July 2014)
(Serves 6)

100g plain flour
50g rolled oats
100g butter, cut into cubes
50g golden caster sugar

For the fruit filling:
900g mixed berries and currants, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants or blackcurrants
50g caster sugar
1½ tbsp cornflour

Heat oven to 200C. Put the flour, oats, butter and sugar in a bowl, squash together with your fingers into a crumble texture.

Meanwhile, put the berries, sugar and cornflour in a large pan. Stir together and set over a medium heat. Cook until the berries just start to release their juices. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit, and bake in the oven for 30-40 mins until bubbling and golden. Leave for 5 mins before serving with ice cream or custard.

Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

I was looking through my Mum's cookbooks vaguely thinking about things I could do with loganberries and this recipe popped out at me. I had given her some loganberries which she had frozen on a tray and then packed into bags. Perfect for baking. I really enjoyed these brownies and loved the addition of the fresh fruit.

Chocolate Loganberry Brownies (adapted from Leiths Baking Bible)
(Makes 9ish)

2 eggs
200g caster sugar
115g butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla essence
55g self raising flour
45g cocoa powder
115g fresh loganberries

For the icing
85g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
15g butter

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line an 8in square tin.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the cooled butter and vanilla essence.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together into the bowl and fold into the egg mixture with a metal spoon. Fold in half the loganberries.

Spread the brownie mixture into the tin then scatter the remaining brownies over the top.

Bake for 30-35 mins until risen and set. A skewer should come out slightly sticky. Allow to cool.

Make the icing: place the chocolate and butter unto a small bowl set over a pan of boiling water. Melt and stir together. Spread over the cooled brownies.

Chill until required and cut into pieces.

Chipotle Loganberry Chicken Thighs

This was a really lovely recipe that I stumbled across when looking for things to do with the huge amount of loganberries I have collected this year. I made jam a few days before and this was a handy way to use up a little. You could of course use raspberries as with the original recipe or you could use smushed up loganberries or raspberries if you don't have any jam.

Chipotle Loganberry Chicken Thighs (from Handle the Heat)
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp loganberry jam
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 tbsp chipotle paste
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp oil
8 boneless chicken thighs (skin on or removed)
salt and pepper

In a small saucepan, combine the jam, lime zest, lime juice, chipotle, and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until slightly syrupy.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken thighs evenly with salt and pepper. Saute chicken for about 6 mins per side, or until golden brown. Spoon the raspberry mixture over the chicken before serving.

Loganberry Jam

I have had bowl upon bowl of loganberries from my the bush in my garden this year. I have frozen them mostly, or eaten them with a sprinkling of sugar for pudding, and I'm also going to make compote. I also decided after picking over a kilo to make jam! My first attempt at jam a couple of years ago was not a success, I used too much sugar and it was so hard you couldn't actually get it out the pot!

My first try at this was under set, so I put it back in the pan, added the juice of half a lemon and a bit more sugar and resterilised the jars. I'm not sure how it turned out second time round as no-ones tried any yet, but it was definitely set, hopefully so that it can still be eaten!

Loganberry Jam
Makes 3 450g/1lb pots

900g fresh or frozen loganberries
900g white sugar, warmed

Preheat the oven to 100-130CWash, dry and sterilise the jars in the oven for 15 mins. Put the sugar onto a baking tray and put in the same low oven as the jars to warm.

Put the berries into a wide, stainless-steel saucepan. Mash them a little and cook for 3–4 mins over a medium heat until the juice begins to run, then add the warmed sugar and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Increase the heat, bring to the boil and cook steadily for about 5 mins, stirring frequently (frozen berries will take 6 mins).

Test for a set by putting about a tsp of jam on a cold plate and leaving it for a few minutes in a cool place. Press the jam with your finger. If it wrinkles even slightly, it is set. Remove from the heat immediately. Skim and pour into sterilised jam jars. Cover immediately.

Super Berry Blitz

This was the first recipe I tried from my WeightWatchers cookbooks last week. It was just like the smoothies I have been drinking but using water instead of milk. It does fill you up and because it just contains fruit it has no points. You can use skimmed milk instead of water for 1 PP per person and add 80g oats to the recipe to make it a proper smoothie for 2 PP per person.

Super Berry Blitz (from Cooking the WeightWatchers Way)
(Serves 4)
(0 WW ProPoints Per Serving)

200g blueberries
200g strawberries
200g raspberries
2 bananas, sliced
1 tsp vanilla extract
425ml chilled water

Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve.

Loganberry Ripple Ice Cream

This is the second of the no-churn ice creams I have made this summer and it was utterly delicious. Even better than that peach and ginger one. It s incredibly moreish! I'm so glad I froze some loganberries so I can make more!

Loganberry Ripple Ice Cream (adapted from Tinned Tomatoes)
(Makes 2l)

375g tin condensed milk
600ml double cream
seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
300g loganberries
5 tbsp icing sugar

Cook the loganberries and icing sugar gently, until the berries begin to collapse, then remove them from the heat and sieve into a bowl to remove the pips. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, cream and vanilla until it starts to thicken. This takes about 5 minutes with an electric hand whisk. 

Pour some of the loganberry puree into the ice cream mixture and stir only enough to swirl through. 

Pour in a layer of ice cream into a box, then pour over some puree, then another layer of each. Until you have filled your box. Keep a little of the puree to pour on top of the ice cream. 

Pop the ice cream in the freezer to set, preferably overnight. Take out of the freezer about 15-20 minutes before you want to serve it, to let it soften.