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Okay, so now the really bad but obligatory pun is out of the way we can talk berries. I took this shot in the historic, gorgeous  and just a little bit spooky markets in Campo de Fiori in central Rome. I say spooky because the markets sit under and around the central statue of a monk, one Girodano Bruno. The statue is there to mark where he was burnt alive in the 1600s for making the sinful (at the time) claim that the earth rotated around the sun.
But back to berries. These berries are beauties but you dont have to go all the way to these markets to buy treasures like these.
I am a huge fan of the frozen berry, available at your supermarket and often cheaper than buying berries by the punnet. Here are 3 really quick and easy recipes using the frozen berry or any combination of. maple berry jam
Place 2 cups of defrosted frozen berries (try your favourite berry or any combination of) in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of cornflour and stir around well to evenly combine. Bring ½ cup of maple syrup to boil in a saucepan. Add the berries and stir a few times, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3-4 minutes, so the liquid is syrupy thick. Remove from heat, place in a bowl and allow to cool. Serve dolloped over pikelets, hotcakes or thick buttered toast. messy berry pav
Defrost a 500g packet of mixed frozen berries (or your favourite frozen berry) over a bowl to completely defrost. Place the drained berry juice in a saucepan with ¼ cup sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, until thickened slightly , an allow to cool. Crumble 6 small pre made meringues into a ceramic dish. Whip up 300ml cream with 1 teaspoon of vanilla and ½ cup icing sugar until the whisk leaves soft peaks when it is removed. Spoon the cream over the meringues. Spoon the berries over the cream and drizzle the syrup all over. blueberry sour cream pudding
Have your oven hot and ready at 180C and grease a 4-6 cup baking dish with butter. Blend 1 / 2 cup of softened butter and 1 cup of brown sugar in a food processor until smooth. With the motor running, add 1 egg and blend for a few seconds. Add 1 ½ cups of sour cream and blend until smoothly combined with the other ingredients. With the motor running, slowly add 1 cup of self raising flour until it is all smoothly combined. Place in a bowl and quickly stir through 1 ½ cups of frozen blueberries, spoon into the baking dish and into the oven for 1 hour. It will still be soft in the centre. Serve with custard or vanilla ice cream.
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Seville orange and olive salad
Whisk together 1 / 2 cup good mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar and 1  teaspoon of finely chopped tarragon. Arrange 1 roughly chopped cos lettuce on a plate and top with 2 peeled and finely sliced oranges, 1 finely sliced red onion, 1/2 cup of green olives, 2 tablespoons of salted capers (rinsed) and 6-8 anchovy fillets. Pour dressing over the salad and serve as a starter or side to a main. roasted chicken with blood oranges, olives and balsamic
Have your oven hot and ready at 170C. Cut a chicken into 8 large pieces and cook in a few splashes of hot olive oil until brown all over. Place the chicken on a baking tray. Peel 2 blood oranges (if difficult to find try any other variety), removing as much white as possible, and cut into segments. Scatter the orange segments over the chicken with 2 finely sliced fennel bulbs, a handful of green olives, 1 quartered red onion, 2 sliced garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of capers (rinsed). Pour over 1/4 cup Spanish sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar) and 1/4 cup olive oil and cook for 1 1/2 hours. classic flourless orange cake
Cook 2 whole unpeeled oranges in a saucepan of simmering water for 1 1/2 hours. Allow to cool, cut in half and remove any pips. Place the oranges in a food processor and whiz until smooth.
Have your oven hot and ready at 180C and grease and line a 24cm springform cake tin. Beat 6 eggs with 250g caster sugar for a few minutes, until pale and creamy. Add 250g almond meal, the oranges and 1 teaspoon baking powder and beat until combined and smooth. Pour into the tin and cook for 1 hour.
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