We went in search of cherries: punnet after punnet of dark, sweet fruits, cheap enough for us to boil up a batch of jam. The pickers had been at work before breakfast, teetering on tall ladders, their heads hidden in the canopy of leaves. We ignored the dead blackbird that hung ominously from the gate and went in. I was struck by how cool it was under those trees, a good few degrees cooler than in the open, and we sat in their shade feasting on fruit and spotting our shirts pink with juice before driving off with our cut-price haul.
That was a few years ago, but I have always associated cherries with the cool, serving them on dishes of ice in lieu of pudding; making a cordial of their juice with sparkling water and glasses of crushed ice, or just snatching the odd, chilled orb from its paper bag each time I opened the fridge door.
It is only recently I have started to think of the cherry as a cook’s fruit – a fruit for cakes and compotes, crumbles and pies. Jam aside, they seemed too precious to cook. Of course, warm cherry pie is heavenly if you take the trouble to stone the cherries. (A cherry pie with stones is more torture than treat.) And maybe do as I did this week, tossing in a handful of blueberries, the little fruits having the effect of making the cherries sing all the louder, their juice all the more rich.
Cherry pie
Use all cherries if you wish, but the tartness of the blueberries seems to amplify the flavour of the cherries. The cornflour becomes invisible, but effectively thickens the juices. Serves 6.
For the pastry:
plain flour 230g
butter 140g
icing sugar 50g
eggs 1 large yolk, plus another beaten to seal and glaze the pie
For the filling:
cherries 800g
blueberries 200g
cornflour 2 tbsp
lemon 1
caster sugar 100g (plus a little extra)
You will also need a wide-rimmed metal pie plate or tart tin measuring approximately 26cm in diameter (including rim).
Make the pastry: put the flour into the bowl of a food processor, add the butter cut into pieces and process until the ingredients resemble fine, fresh breadcrumbs. Mix in the icing sugar and the egg yolk. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, then bring the dough together with your hands to form a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in parchment or clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Stone the cherries, put them in a mixing bowl then add the blueberries and the cornflour. Finely grate the lemon, add it to the cherries, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice. Sprinkle the juice over the fruit and add the sugar. Tumble the fruit, cornflour, juice, zest and sugar together and set aside.
Place an empty baking sheet in the oven, then preheat to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the pastry in half. Roll out one half to fit the base of the pie plate, then lower on to the pie plate, leaving any overhanging pastry in place. Spoon the filling into the dish, leaving a bare rim of pastry around the edge. Brush the rim with a little beaten egg.
Roll out the remaining pastry and place it over the top of the tart, pressing firmly around the rim to seal. Trim the pastry. Brush the surface with beaten egg, pierce a small hole in the middle to let out any steam, then sprinkle the pie lightly with caster sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes, on the heated baking sheet, until golden.
Cherry polenta cake
Serves 8-10.
butter 220g
caster sugar 220g
cherries 200g
ground almonds 180g
fine polenta 220g
baking powder 1 tsp
lemon 1
eggs 3, large
For the syrup:
cherries 400g
honey 3 tbsp
elderflower cordial 160ml
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Line the base of a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Dice the butter and put it in the bowl of a food mixer with the caster sugar and beat until light and creamy. Halve and stone the 200g of cherries.
Mix together the ground almonds, fine polenta and the baking powder. Grate the zest from the lemon and stir into the polenta. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a small bowl. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly.
Add the beaten egg to the butter and sugar mixture, beating continuously, adding a little of the polenta mixture should it start to curdle. Fold in the remaining polenta mixture and the lemon juice.
Spoon half the batter into the lined cake tin, add the cherries, then the remaining batter and smooth the surface. Bake for 35 minutes, then lower the heat to 160C/gas mark 4 and bake for further 25 minutes until the cake is lightly firm to the touch.
While the cake bakes, make the syrup. Halve and stone the 400g of cherries. Warm the elderflower cordial and honey in a small pan, then add the cherries and let them simmer for 5-7 minutes until the fruit has given up some of its juice.
When the cake is ready, remove from the oven, then pierce all over with a skewer or knitting needle. Spoon some of the syrup from the cherries over the surface so it runs down through the holes into the crumb of the cake, then leave to cool.
Remove the cake from its tin; serve with the cherry compote and, if you like some cream or crème fraîche.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater