For your compote:
- 800 grams of Gooseberries
- ½ a bunch of lemon thyme
- 4 crushed and bruised bay leaves
- 2 whole lemons juiced and squeezed
- 75 grams of light golden sugar
Gooseberries are not in season yet, but thanks to our family friends down in Devon who were able to give me some of their own gooseberry harvest from last year. By freezing gooseberries when they freshly picked is a great way of preserving gooseberries as they are picked and frozen straight away locking in all of the freshness and goodness.
1. To begin place a medium sized saucepan onto a low and medium heat, add all of your ingredients into the saucepan and allow to cook slowly and gently until it is thick and jammy.
(You want this compote to be quite rustic and thick as it helps to give texture and contrast)
2. Allow the compote to cool, once cooled remove all of the lemon thyme, bay leaves and lemon from the compote.
For your Granola:
- 200 grams of unsalted butter to make this diary free use a dairy free altenative
- 100 grams of soft brown sugar
- 200 grams of spelt flour
- ¾ tsp. of ground cinnamon
- 150 grams of porridge oats
- 100 grams of pecans chopped
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Lemon zest
- Freshly picked lemon thyme leaves.
1. To begin grease an oven proof dish in the shape of a rectangle, and line with greaseproof paper as this ensures that your cake will not get stuck.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6.
3. Next add all of your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, stir to incorporate once all of your ingredients have been mixed together, add your lemon zest juice and lemon thyme leaves.
4. Next place a small saucepan onto a medium heat with your butter and sugar, melt until you have a thick caramel.
5. Mix together to form your granola.
To construct add a layer of your granola base to your desired dish, then top with your cooled compote and to finish add another layer of granola mixture this layer can be more rustic to add depth and dimension.
Cook until golden brown and chewy for around 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the tin and then you can cut into little bars or just serve warm with a large helping of double cream
The Gourmet Gent 