Anna Jones’s cherry recipes

Cherries are hands down my favourite fruit. During these summer weeks, I buy a bag most days. They’re almost always best eaten straight out of the bag, but there are a few recipes where cooked cherries rival fresh. One is this cherry cobbler, an intensely sweet-sour party between cherry and its best friend, almond. The other is a cherry salad, the fruit quickly pickled and roasted, popping against the salad leaves and buttermilk dressing.

Cherry, lemon and almond cobbler (pictured above)

I make this in peak cherry season, when they are most affordable. At other times of the year, you could use some cheaper frozen cherries, or even some pitted and roughly chopped red plums in place of half the cherries.

Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4-6

1kg cherries, pitted
1 tbsp amaretto or frangelico (optional)
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla paste
2-4 tbsp honey
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

For the topping
60g almonds, skin on
125g white spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g raw cane sugar or demerara sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled
1 pinch flaky sea salt

To serve
Creme fraiche, yoghurt or ice-cream

Heat the oven to 240C/465F/gas 9. First, make the topping. Blitz the almonds in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs, then add the flour, baking powder and sugar and pulse a couple of times to combine. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the food processor with the salt. Blitz again, until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Add a tablespoon of water and pulse again until it comes together into a firm dough.

Put the cherries, liqueur (if using) and vanilla into a bowl and mix to combine. Grease a 20cm baking dish, and spoon in the cherries, to cover the bottom of the dish. Drizzle over the honey and use a tablespoon to dollop the dough on top, leaving gaps for the juices to bubble through.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the topping has risen and is a deep gold. Top with a few more toasted almonds, if you like, and serve with creme fraiche and a swirl of honey or some ice-cream.

Roasted cherry salad with buttermilk dressing

I use red-tipped little gems here, but butterhead, oakleaf, lollo rosso and frisée would also work. If you can’t find buttermilk, use yoghurt thinned with a splash of milk for the dressing. Some goat’s cheese or goat’s curd would be a nice addition, too.

Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4

For the salad
200g cherries, pitted and halved
A few sprigs thyme, leaves picked
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
4 slices good bread
4 little gem lettuces

For the dressing
125ml buttermilk or thinned yoghurt (see note)
1 tsp runny honey
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Lay the halved cherries on a baking tray, scatter with the thyme and grate over the lemon zest. Drizzle with the vinegar, then with the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Toss the lot together and roast for 15-20 minutes.

Tear the bread into chunks, put on another baking tray and season well. Drizzle generously with olive oil, then put in the oven for the last 15 minutes with the cherries. When time is up, the cherries should have darkened a little, their flavour intensified, and the bread should be crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle and deeply golden.

To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients in a jug, or shake in a tightly sealed jar, taste and season.

Wash, dry and quarter the lettuces and scatter them on a plate. Once the cherries have cooled a little, scatter them over the lettuce and bread, and drizzle generously with the dressing.