Recipe of the week by Lawrence Murphy | Fennel, goat's cheese and blackberry salad

Sweet, tart and deep in colour and flavour, the blackberry is a firm favourite in our kitchens. The bramble fruit will be around for another month so it’s time to stock up.

The berries ripen at different intervals so you will always be able to get a few at a time. You can leave those on really high bushes for the wildlife.

Blackberries are usually combined with apple for a cracking crumble or made into jam, but they work well with sharp goat’s cheese as in this easy lunch recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 bulb fennel

100g blackberries

Teaspoon balsamic vinegar

50ml water

20g caster sugar

100g soft goat’s cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Method

1. Take 50g of the blackberries, the vinegar, sugar and water and put in a saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer for three minutes.

3. Push the dressing through a fine sieve and reserve.

4. Thinly slice the fennel and arrange on plates with the remaining blackberries.

5.Crumble over the cheese and spoon the blackberry dressing over and around.

6. Finish by drizzling olive oil over and sprinkling with a little sea salt.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.

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