Gooseberry Compote on Yogurt

with toasted almonds & honey

For the compote, into a small frying pan add the gooseberries, caster sugar and water and place on a medium heat. After a couple of minutes of being up to temperature turn down to a slight simmer, stirring regularly for around 15-20 minutes or until it looks done. Add a small splash of water if it dries out too much during.

When you are happy with the compote, set aside to cool.

Toast the flaked almonds in a dry pan for a couple of minutes to brown slightly.

Divide the yogurt into bowls, spoon over some gooseberry compote followed by a scattering of flaked almonds and topped with a good drizzle of honey.

This recipe is basically a gee’d up version of something I used to eat all the time when I was younger. It was a gooseberry yogurt from a local store that I had with a little honey over the top. The sweetness of the honey is just so nice with the sharp sourness of the gooseberries and the yogurt.

sweet and sour yogurt

The gooseberry used to be a very common fruit grown in English gardens, these days it is not common to even see them in the supermarkets, I guess through lack of demand. I have memories about staying at my Grandmother's with my cuisine as children and going out into the garden to play and then stealthily sneaking into the vegetable patch to eat the raspberries. Once foolishly taking a mouthful of a few gooseberries, in which I think I ran back inside thinking I had eaten something poisonous due to them being so sourly acidic. Of course now I know that treated with a bit of respect you can achieve something beautifully sweet and tart.