One of the problems I have with summer produce is that the making-too-much-work-for-myself, creative part of me wants to try new things, combine produce with genius ingredients and chop or bake or blanch until perfect. But then I start eating the berries or peaches raw out of their little green box and then doing anything to them except putting them in my mouth seems sacrilegious. So when Deb of Smitten Kitchen posts some terribly awkward pictures of some lovely concoction that elevates raspberries to their singing best while leaving them basically raw, I didn't hesitate.
Deb's recipe calls for three ingredients: raspberries, sour cream, and dark brown sugar. I recently inherited dark brown sugar from a friend who was moving out of her apartment and needed a loving home for her baking supplies. But sour cream? They don't make that out of goat milk. I barely paused a second, though, because even in the days before my allergies were diagnosed and I regularly sullied my system with dairy products of every persuasion, I often used plain full-fat yogurt as a sub for sour cream. The adorable goats came through again.
However, this yogurt is quite runny and I knew I would need something of a more Greek consistency for this recipe. I jury-rigged a draining apparatus: paper towels laid in a sieve, balanced over a mixing bowl. Spooned about 2.5 cups of yogurt in, covered with another paper towel, and let drain for a couple hours. This process is necessary because regular yogurt has too much water, and will make this a runny, soggy mess if you don't drain it beforehand.
After draining the yogurt you fold it together with raspberries and top with brown sugar, then broil for a few minutes. The brown sugar melts and caramelizes and the yogurt gets barely warm, but the raspberries are only softened the smallest amount and it all melts together and gah. It is so good. I hope you will forgive these extremely unappetizing pictures and just believe me that this is the simplest, tastiest thing to do to raspberries. Even if they kind of look like brains afterwards.
Raspberry gratin (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
This recipe has very simple proportions, and they can certainly be tweaked. I actually didn't measure anything - I used the raspberries I bought at the farmer's market, the yogurt I had left, and enough brown sugar to cover the top.
2 cups fresh raspberries, washed and dried very carefully
2.5 cups of full-fat yogurt, or 2 cups of Greek yogurt/sour cream
1 cup dark brown sugar
If using regular (ie not Greek) yogurt, "Greekify" it by lining a sieve with paper towels, spooning the yogurt in, covering and letting drain for a couple hours. I left it out on the counter but you can let this process happen in the fridge if you want.
Position the rack in your oven so that one if close to the broiler. Turn on the broiler.
Once you have the appropriate yogurt/sour cream substance, fold it together with the raspberries in a shallow dish or pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top, evenly covering the surface.
Broil until the sugar starts to caramelize. It's best if eaten immediately, but can be refrigerated, covered. It will look even more horrible after spending some time in the fridge.
