Sherried rhubarb crumble - only for grown ups!

As most of you know, we grow rhubarb in our garden.  It all started with the one plant - called Ruby - who grew so much we had to split her in half and so she spawned her daughter, RubyTwo.  Well, the years have gone past and the pair of them are now busting out of the brick planters they are in and three times a year (or more) threaten world domination unless we harvest them and share them around the neighbours.  So, as you can imagine, obtaining rhubarb isn't exactly a challenge.  In fact, for this recipe, hubby went out and cut the 500g required and it was in the oven half an hour later. Can't get a lot fresher than that!

With this crumble, I wanted very much to just celebrate the joy that is rhubarb.  Not dilute it with apple, or confuse matters by adding blackberries.  No, I wanted it to be simply rhubarb.  Our rhubarb is so tasty - it's a champagne variety - that I always think it's a shame to mask its deliciousness with other flavours.

However, that didn't stop me from having a rush of blood to the head and adding sherry.  *chuckle*  Well, I figured that as we've had a rhubarb trifle with sherry in the past - which was delicious, why not?  I used a medium sherry - Harvey's Bristol Cream, in fact.  It definitely lent the dish a certain something and I'd definitely do that again.

What did it taste like?  Oh, it was beautiful.  Sweet, sharp, deep rich flavours of rhubarb with the slight headiness of sherry, balanced against the buttery, oaty, slightly toffee flavoured crumble that just melted in the mouth. Heavenly. Especially with vanilla custard, which is just the perfect accompaniment.

I have two Cook's Tips for you, which are as follows :

Lots of crumble recipes tell you to pre-cook the fruit, but I didn't want rhubarb slush, I wanted pieces of rhubarb that still had their shape and a little of the crunch.  Cutting the pieces slightly smaller than usual, managed to achieve that very nicely across the 30 minute cooking time.   If however, you prefer your rhubarb to be softer then make sure to cook it on for another 10 minutes or so.

I'm sure we've all made fruit crumbles that wind up being all juice.  For me, too much juice can almost ruin a crumble as it tends to steam the underside of the crumble top and you end up with a yukky sludgy uncooked layer and the fruit swimming in juice.  To offset this, I mixed in some cornflour (or perhaps corn starch where you are) with the raw fruit and sugar, which has the effect of thickening the juice and so preventing both the sludge and the pool.  You don't even notice it's there, so it's a sneaky tip to remember for fruit pies, too!

Maybe the very next time you lay your hands on some rhubarb, you can give this crumble a go.  Your family will thank you!

SHERRIED RHUBARB CRUMBLE    (serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

500g rhubarb, washed, dried and cut into 1cm pieces
100g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
3-4 tbsp of medium sweet sherry.

For the crumble :

130g self raising flour
50g light brown muscovado sugar
30g rolled porridge oats
90g slightly salted, chilled butter.

Method :

Pre-heat your oven to 190degC/375degF/Gas 5.

Place the chopped rhubarb into a deep sided casserole or baking dish. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and cornflour and mix together thoroughly until each piece of rhubarb is coated.

Sprinkle the sherry over the rhubarb and set aside while you make the crumble.

Weigh the self raising flour, muscovado sugar and porridge oats into a large bowl and lightly stir together.

Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the dry ingredients until everything is buttery and breadcrumb-like.

Spread the crumble across the top of the fruit mix and level the surface without pressing down or compacting the crumble at all.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or 40 minutes if you like your fruit softer.

Serve with vanilla custard, or double cream if you must.  *wink*

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Rhubarb & Mead Semifreddo with compote - such a simple joy!

Okay, now before I go any further, I feel I must explain both Mead and Semifreddo - just in case.

Mead is an alcoholic drink made (in a very skimpy nutshell) by mixing honey with yeast and water and leaving it to ferment.  Hubby has made a couple of batches of this elixir of life and it has very much received the thumbs up from the whole family.  However, if you're not into fermenting or wine making, you can easily substitute a sweet sherry, dessert or Marsala wine which will be slightly different in flavour, but just as delicious.

Hubby's home made Mead

Semifreddo is basically an ice cream.  Both product and name originate in Italy, the home of so many scrummy ice creams.  It translates as "partly frozen" and relates to the fact that the cream mixture is frozen solid, then allowed to thaw for an hour or so prior to serving.  This gives the deliciously icy texture along with the unctuous creamy texture of the thawed edges that is so characteristic of a Semifreddo.

I asked hubby what he would like for dessert on Sunday, following on from our roast pork dinner.  After just a moment's thought, he announced "a rhubarb semifreddo".  Well, what a blindingly good idea!  I briefly considered making it a rhubarb & ginger version but I'm keen to work the Mead into as many dishes as possible, just to prove how versatile it is.

Our first experience of semifreddo was one my Mum made - a mango & nectarine version.  Since then, I have made a lemon version which had a buttery ginger biscuit base and took the cream quantities from this BBC Good Food recipe : Limoncello & Raspberry Semifreddo which sounds equally good.  So this recipe has taken its inspiration from many different sources.

Baked rhubarb, ready for the compote

I was so pleased at how this one turned out, as I really wasn't sure about the quantities of sugar involved.  Well, you know how tart rhubarb can be - but I wanted a degree of that tartness to remain, to provide contrast between the tart fruit and the sweetness of the iced cream.  I decided against a biscuit base, this time, because I wanted to serve the semifreddo with some rhubarb & mead compote and I felt all three would be too much.

All ready for freezing

The end result was truly lovely.  Hubby was fairly incoherent in his attempts to lavish praise upon it, so impressed was he.  He immediately set up a manned exclusion zone around the freezer, just in case anyone attempted to help themselves.  The iced cream was deliciously sweet, rich with the flavours of the Mead and with that slightly acidic tang that creme fraiche brings to the party.  Our home grown rhubarb is so tasty, dear old Ruby and her daughter RubyTwo excel themselves every year in providing the best a rhubarb plant can.

The rhubarb compote, as with the rhubarb for the semifreddo, is made by oven baking the rhubarb, then combining it with the Mead and sugar and leaving the three to match up deliciously.  It was just fabulous along with the semifreddo.  On the one hand, sweet rhubarb with Meady syrup, on the other hand creamy semifreddo with tart fruity rhubarb.  Oh yes.  Very much yes.

The best, the very best, part about this recipe is that it is simplicity itself to make.  No fiddling around with eggs as with so many semifreddo recipes, but a simple matter of two bowls, some spoons and a whisk.  Oh, and a freezer.  Yup, got to have a freezer!

As you'll now no doubt be busting for the recipe, here we go.

RHUBARB & MEAD SEMIFREDDO WITH COMPOTE   (serves 10-12)

Ingredients :

6-8 good sized sticks of washed rhubarb
1, 1 & 2 tbsp granulated sugar
300ml double cream
80g golden caster sugar
400ml creme fraiche
5 & 3 tbsp Mead.

Method :

Firstly, prepare a 2lb-3lb loaf tin (or 2 x 1lb loaf tins) by lining them with a double layer of cling film, which should be significantly bigger than the tin, so as to be able to wrap the contents once frozen.

Then, take 3 or 4 of the pinkest sticks of rhubarb and slice them into half inch chunks, then halve each chunk.  Spread them out onto a non-stick baking tray (non-stick silver foil is great for this!), sprinkle with 1 tbsp of the granulated sugar and place into a pre-heated oven at 180degF/350degC/Gas 4 for 10 minutes, then turn the tray and replace for another 10 minutes until the fruit is cooked through and just beginning to lose juice.

When the cooking time is up, place the rhubarb to one side to cool and prepare the baking tray for another lot of rhubarb.

For this second lot, take the remains of the raw rhubarb and slice into one inch pieces but leave these pieces whole.  Spread them out onto a baking tray and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of sugar, as before.  Once again, exactly as the first time, place into the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the tray and replace for another 10 minutes until the fruit is cooked through, then remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Place the double cream, golden caster sugar and 5 tbsp of Mead into a large bowl and using a hand mixer, whisk until the cream will stand in soft peaks.

Place the creme fraiche into a separate bowl and whisk until visibly softened.  Some will go to soft peak stage, some won't.  So long as the creme fraiche has some air whisked into it, it will do nicely.

So long as the first batch (the smaller chunks) of rhubarb are perfectly cold, add them to the sweetened cream and add the creme fraiche. Gently stir them all together, not being too particular about it.  A certain degree of swirliness keeps the flavours interesting.

Pour the creamy loveliness .. no, actually, before you do anything else, taste the creamy loveliness.  You deserve to know how it is going to taste before the following day when you get to sample the end result .. so, having done that and recovered, pour the contents of the bowl into the loaf tin(s), smoothing down the top layer.

Place - uncovered - into the freezer until the following day, or until solid frozen.  Wrap the overlapping pieces of cling film over the top to protect the semifreddo until you require it.

To complete the compote, take a large Mason Jar or other sealable wide necked container and decant the larger chunks of rhubarb, sugar and any juice that's escaped, into it.  Add the remaining 3 tbsp of Mead and 2 tbsp granulated sugar and mix through lightly.  Seal the top and refrigerate until required.  

To assemble, remove the semifreddo from the freezer around 1 hour before required.  Turn the contents out onto a suitable plate and remove the cling film.  Place into your fridge to defrost slightly.  When ready to serve, using a sharp knife, cut a slice and add a good spoonful of the rhubarb & mead compote.  Enjoy!

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Rhubarb Dream Bars - cakies of much deliciousness!

The good - very good - thing about having a blog called "Rhubarb and Ginger" is that every so often, someone will recommend a rhubarb recipe to me.  Which is what happened with regard to these Rhubarb Dream Bars.  I'd never heard of them before, but it seems that they're well known in the States and Canada.  I suppose it's like the gorgeous Rhubarb & Strawberry Pie, which - even though England grows some of the best strawberries available anywhere - is not a well known combination over here.

I'd had the recipe for these totally scrummy little pieces of deliciousness for a few weeks but either the butter kept being eaten before I could get to it, or we were too busy, or I just ran out of spoons (see the definition of the Spoon Theory here).

I was getting a bit fed up with not making these and was beginning to panic that our rhubarb might have dwindled before I could get the chance to make the most of it.  So as hubby was in charge of dinner and I had spoons to spare, it was the perfect chance.

I'm not sure why, but I was under the impression that it was likely to be a bit of a long process to make the bars.  I'm scratching my head about this, because it really was the simplest thing!  In fact, the hardest bit was doing the maths to halve the recipe.  The original recipe is here, but I've reproduced it below as I've made it a bit less American and this is the halved version.  If you've got two baking tins, then by all means make the full version as for sure they won't stay around for long!  However, know that they don't keep well.  You need to not seal them into whatever container you're planning on keeping them in, as they will soften very quickly.  Hence it is not worth making loads, if you're not going to be able to eat them all.

Just as an aside, I loved the fact that I could step out of the kitchen door and pick two rhubarb stalks from our plants, wash them, chop them and bake them.  Now it doesn't get much fresher than that.

So apart from knowing that the end result was delicious - after all, they'd been recommended - I had no clue as to how they would end up.  Would the base be hard, or soft?  Would the top be crumbly or spongey?  So it was a voyage of discovery that only made sense as I was creating them.  Of course, the base is very similar to a shortbread recipe, so naturally it comes out of the oven crisp and smelling deliciously buttery.  I wasn't sure how the fruit layer would react to meeting the hot base, but baking magic happens and it all does what it should, winding up with a gorgeously soft from the fruit juices and crusty from the oven, sweet and deliciously rhubarby top layer.

Have I sold you on the idea yet?

The mix for the top layer.  Unassuming, isn't it?

As for Cook's Tips, I have a few :

Because the recipe originates across the pond, measurement is in cups.  It really isn't a difficult thing to get hold of a set of cup measures, so I've left it as is and not twisted my poor old melon any further in trying to convert them.

I used salted butter for the base as I think the mixture needs the salt to bring out the best flavour.  By all means use unsalted butter though, if that's your thing.

Make sure to slice each rhubarb stalk thinly (not paper-thin, obviously) as this helps the fruit layer to not become waterlogged with juice.  The smaller pieces cook quickly and a degree of the water is evaporated during the cooking process.

For dessert, with gorgeous Greek yoghurt

RHUBARB DREAM BARS    (makes 12)

Ingredients :

For the base
1 cup plain flour
a scant half cup of icing sugar
half a cup of butter.

For the fruit layer
2 large eggs
three quarters of a cup of caster sugar
one quarter of a cup of self raising flour
half a tsp of salt
2 cups rhubarb, finely sliced.

Method :

1.  Line a 8" square baking tin with parchment paper so that the paper extends beyond the sides of the baking tin (to make it easy to remove the cake) and lightly grease with butter.

2.  Add the flour, icing sugar and butter for the base together in a food processor and whizz until thoroughly mixed and looking like fine breadcrumbs.

3.  Tip the mix into the baking tin and press firmly with the back of a spoon until the base is smoothly covered.

4.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas4 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

5.  While the base is baking, mix up the fruit layer.  Place the eggs, sugar, flour and salt into a bowl and beat until well blended.  Add the rhubarb and mix through.

6.  As soon as the base is baked and removed from the oven - and while it is still hot - pour the fruit layer on top and quickly level it.

7.  Replace into the oven for another 35-40 minutes.

8.  Cool and cut into 12 bars.

Serve with a cup of tea, or with clotted cream, ice cream or custard, for a yummy dessert.

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Forget onion jam - here comes Rhubarb & Apple Relish!

This is one of those recipes that has jumped the queue of recipes waiting to come to you, just because it is SO good.

With rhubarb leaping out of the ground in abundance (well, it is in our garden), you might be looking for something new to do with it - and this relish is a thing of rare beauty that deserves to be made.

My hubby is going through a bit of a purple patch with regard to cooking at the moment.  He's bored rigid with cooking dinners, but interesting little challenges like making a relish out of our gorgeous rhubarb still have the capacity to fire him up.  We were discussing what to eat for the week (also known as "making the menu plan") and had decided to go for a Ploughman's Lunch (or Ploughman's Dinner, as it shall be).  Now of course, a Ploughman's requires some tasty pickle or another.  "Perhaps piccalilli?", said hubby.  "Or, or - rhubarb chutney!" he amended, with obvious keenness.

Well that was it.  He was out in the garden, laying waste to the nearest rhubarb, before I could say "great idea!".

The end result is truly one of those pickles/preserves that you taste at a Farmer's Market and think "I'll never be able to afford some of that", before finding out that a small jar costs about a million quid.  Here, you wind up with about four times the amount, for a fraction of the price.  I think that probably, the most expensive item was either the sugar, vinegar or ginger (presuming you've got the rhubarb in the garden already), but if you've a well stocked larder you may well find that you can come up with the ingredients without a trip to the shops.

The relish is jammy, dark and sticky with a most delicious crunch from the mustard seeds and a delightful warmth from the chilli.  The rhubarb flavour is very definitely right up there and is supported by the tart apple.  As I said to hubby, I'll have mine on my ice cream please!

In fact, we've tried it on chicken sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, cheese with biscuits, tinned mackerel, off a teaspoon and of course as part of the aforesaid Ploughman's.  In every context it has been flipping gorgeous.

I have no Cook's Notes for you, as there are so few instructions - just put it all in a pot and cook - there is very little that can go wrong!  Just don't overheat it and allow it to burn.

Oh and incidentally, if you're wondering what makes it a relish instead of a chutney, a relish is a chutney that isn't made to be able to store for long periods.  For this little lovely to be a relish is absolutely 100% appropriate, as I doubt it is going to stay in our fridge for very long at all. 

RHUBARB & APPLE RELISH  (Makes a large (12oz) jar or around 2 cups)

Ingredients: 

250g rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch chunks
250g soft dark brown sugar
125ml good quality cider vinegar (Aspall's is great)
200g Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into half inch chunks
100g onion, chopped
20g stem or crystallised ginger, finely chopped
50g sultanas
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
half a tsp of sea salt
a pinch of dried red chilli flakes - to taste
pinch of ground cloves
half a tsp of allspice
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg.

Method:

1.  Put everything in a non-reactive saucepan.  Bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour - stirring regularly - until the relish is good and thick.

2.  Pour into a sterilised jar (or jars), seal and leave to cool.

Refrigerate, the relish will keep for approximately 1 month.

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Making rhubarb cordial

As I am sure you are all aware, having followed Rhubarb & Ginger for a while, we very often have a complete glut of our very favourite fruit - rhubarb.  I dare say you even know all about Ruby and her daughter Rubytwo who reside in ground planters either side of our patio.

Well, over the course of the summer Ruby and Rubytwo have been busy growing like triffids and supplying us with the most beautifully textured and flavoured fruit.  However, as mentioned above, it does tend to come in enormous great instalments.  We give it away to neighbours and cook with it - of course.

Now in the last few months, hubby has become interested in making rhubarb cordial.  We get through a lot of cordial (or squash, as we know it here), mixing it with sparkling mineral water for a refreshing and "better for you than commercially produced fizzy drinks" kind of drink.  How better, then, to use a cultivar whose name is "Champagne" rhubarb!

Following some research, hubby established that there are two main methods that folk use for making rhubarb cordial.  The one is where the fruit is cooked - much in the way of jam production - and the juice is then separated.  The other is where the raw fruit is broken down by the use of a blender, the juice extracted and then cooked to separate out the impurities.  It seemed as though both tendered good results, so we resolved to give them both a go.

He started with the cooked variety, which certainly didn't offer much in the way of difficulty and definitely resulted in a very palatable, sweet and fruity - if a tad cloudy - cordial.

The second - raw, let's call it - variety however, really has taken the biscuit where results are concerned.  As such, this is our recommended version and hubby has kindly written up the recipe, which you'll find below.

Raw version on the left, cooked on the right - amazing difference!

The raw version has given a beautifully clear, pale pink elixir that is by a factor of some 50% stronger than the cooked version, much to our surprise.  The flavour is just incomparable, however.  There is certainly no missing the fact that it is rhubarb cordial!

We saved a little of the first, cooked, batch so as to be able to give a proper comparison.  My gosh but the difference is certainly apparent, even from just the look of the thing.  I thought that the first, cooked, batch was good - but this second version transcends good into sublime on both looks and flavour.

Hard to imagine that the paler of the two is the stronger in flavour!

So - if you're lucky enough to be parent to a rhubarb plant (or two!) or maybe you know someone with a rhubarb plant who always has too much rhubarb, why not have a go at making cordial.  You will need a little bit of specialist equipment - a collection of jam bags (cheesecloth is good) and a jam or jelly stand (which saves rigging up somewhere to hang the jam bag as the juice drains).  Both of these are available from Amazon - as that's where we got ours!

RHUBARB CORDIAL    (makes 1.5 litres)

Ingredients :

2 - 3 lbs rhubarb stalks, washed very thoroughly
700g sugar
juice of 1 lemon, that has been passed through muslin to remove any solids.

Method :

1.  Take a liquidiser (or blender) with a 1 litre capacity jug and keep feeding it raw, washed rhubarb until the puree fills the jug to the 1 litre mark.
 
2.  Place a jam straining bag, or a piece of muslin in a sieve, over a large bowl and pour the puree into the bag or muslin.

3.  Cover the whole lot with a clean pillowcase or some other contrivance to keep the dust out and allow the puree to drain for at least 12 hours, in a cool place. 

4.  When fully drained, discard the rhubarb pulp or use it to make fruit leather or some such.  Pour the raw rhubarb juice into a large pan, add the sugar and bring the mixture to a slow rolling boil, skimming off any impurities.

5.  Boil for 3 - 4 minutes, by which time you should have finished skimming, which should leave a crystal clear pink syrup in the pan.

6.  Cool the syrup by placing the pan in a sink with enough cold water to come halfway up the outside of the pan.  Stir regularly until the correct temperature has been reached.

7.  When cooled enough, to about the temperature you'd have washing up water, add the lemon juice, stir well and decant into sterilised bottles.

As we've discovered, the resulting syrup is very sweet and very strong.  Dilute at about 10:1 and see how you get on!

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When life sends you rhubarb - make Rhubarb & Custard Cake!

Rhubarb and custard cake.  Now there's a duo of loveliness, embodied in a name.  Firstly, rhubarb and custard - who can resist?  Then, cake!  How on earth do you combine rhubarb, custard and cake, without turning it into trifle?  Well, read on, because it is possible, beautifully possible.

I have introduced you to Ruby, our rhubarb plant, on previous occasions.  We now have two of them, as because Ruby was growing so well (and about to take over the garden), we split her into two.  In this way, RubyTwo was born.  In fact, because a bit fell off and got planted into a pot just to see whether it would flourish - which it did - there was  actually a RubyThree as well.  However, RubyThree has now gone to live with the-neighbour-across-the-road-with-the-caravan and is now happily living in their back garden.  Which means, of course, that we now have one less person to donate rhubarb to when Ruby and RubyTwo are in full production mode.

However (I digress), Ruby and RubyTwo only gave themselves a few weeks off over winter and are back with a bang.  All that water seemed to agree with them and here we are at the beginning of March able to harvest rhubarb that hasn't been forced!  Most unusual - and most delicious!

Hiding its light under a bushel of icing sugar!

During the menu planning round at the beginning of the week, I had put a High Tea on the menu for Saturday.  Son and heir loves a High Tea and it is often an excuse to bake in some way, shape or form.  I had planned to make some yummy sausage rolls to go with coleslaw, but these got shot down in flames for various reasons and, in fact, I escaped doing any baking at all.

I had asked hubby - who is evolving as the Senior Cake Baker of the family - whether he would be able to bake us a cake to go with High Tea, so he set to pondering on what type.  In the meantime, the new BBC Good Food magazine dropped through the letterbox.  Hiding in amongst its plump, luscious pages, was a little booklet of bakes where he spotted the Rhubarb & Custard cake.  The recipe is on their website, at http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10500/rhubarb-and-custard-cake if you should fancy giving it a go yourself.

Ruby during the height of February's storms - completely unbothered.

Now I had given the recipe a once-over look in the past and registered that it was quite an involved process (by my standards), so hadn't ventured to make it.  Hence, when hubby announced an interest in it, I posed the question whether he was prepared for all the stages involved with it and happy that it wasn't too much "fiddling around".  We both hate recipes that have you doing one process here, then getting out a whole other set of equipment for another process there, then back to the first lot for another process - so dull!  However, he'd read it through and was happy with it - so off we went.

I have to admit, I was still in bed dreaming of fairies and unicorns (a.k.a. snoring my head off) when he ventured forth into the garden and gave Ruby her first haircut of the year.  As I was when he baked his first batch of rhubarb for a bit too long and converted it to rhubarb compote.  He was only following the recipe!  Indeed, I had moved on to dreaming of bacon sandwiches for breakfast (a.k.a. snoring even louder) when he gave Ruby her second haircut of the year and successfully roasted his rhubarb pieces by roasting covered for just 5 minutes, then uncovered for another 5-6 minutes - a change to the original recipe that I have reflected in my version below.

I came to at about the time he was ready to put the cake into the oven, mainly because he brought me one of the whisks to taste the custard infused cake batter.  Mmmmn - it was good!

The process, you see, is to dry out the rhubarb by baking it in the oven, then cooling.  Meanwhile, you make up the cake batter - which has the custard mixed in.  Oooh, interesting!  Then, you layer rhubarb and cake batter into the tin, finally finishing with blobs of custard and pieces of rhubarb on top.

It smelled spectacular as it was baking, but took an awful lot longer than the recipe stated.  Either they got the recipe wrong, or nobody tested it before publishing.  In all, I would say that it took about 30 minutes longer than the recipe states - so be prepared if you decide to make it.

Just baked and smelling sooooo good!

All in all, with the false start, it probably took hubby around 3 hours or so to make the cake.  However, is it worth it?  Oh my goodness yes!

The texture is a very different to that of a sponge-like cake.  Throw those ideas out of the window, as although it has significant substance, its texture is robust rather than heavy.  The custard has given the cakey part that lovely vanilla custard flavour that can't help but go so well with the rhubarb that is shot through the cake like little pink stained glass windows.

This cake is the perfect crossover between a tea time cake and a dessert style cake.  It would be as at home with a cup of tea as it is with a drizzle of additional custard and a spoon, so made an absolutely perfect addition to a High Tea.  However, when you add a spoonful or two of the rhubarb compote to the plate, it transforms into a full-on rhubarb lover's treat.

Cooling ..... is it ready, yet?

Yes, you'll need time in which to make this cake - but if you need rhubarb, you know who to ask!

RHUBARB & CUSTARD CAKE    (serves 10-12)

Ingredients :

400g rhubarb
50g caster sugar
250g butter, softened plus extra for greasing
150g ready made custard (Ambrosia, not home-made)
250g self raising flour
half a tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g golden caster sugar
icing sugar, for dusting.

Method :

1.  Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

2.  Rinse the rhubarb and shake off excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little-finger-size pieces.

3. Put onto a baking tray, tip over 50g caster sugar, toss together, then shuffle rhubarb so it’s in a single layer. Cover with foil, then roast for 5 mins. Remove foil. Give everything a little shake, roast for 5 mins more or until tender and the juices are syrupy.

4.  Carefully drain off the juices before you let the fruit cool.

5.  Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin and pre-heat your oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

6.  Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl.

7.  To a large bowl, add the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, sugar and remaining custard.  Beat together until creamy and smooth.

8.  Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can - there's no need to be too clinical about this though!

9.  Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over.

10. Bake for 50 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 30-40 mins more. It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

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Today's dessert : Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie

I first made a Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie around 3 or so years ago.  I hadn't heard of the combination prior to this and it was due to the glowing recommendations of my friends from across the pond (USA & Canada, that is) that I tried it out.

Well, since then it has become a yearly favourite.  When Ruby is at her peak (and you never know, we may even get two of them this year as RubyTwo is almost as big as her Mum now) we find a punnet of the last few English strawberries and get to it.

Hubby found one such punnet in the supermarket the other day (on special offer, so even better!) and I set to with pastry and egg wash, this morning.

The flavour from Ruby's rhubarb and gorgeous English strawberries is quite sublime, however there has been a leetle problem in the past, in that the fruit generated far too much juice.  This time, I combined a couple of spoonfuls of cornflour with the fruit and hey presto - problem solved.

I am pretty confident that this year's pie is by far the best I've ever made.  The recipe is available from http://jennyeatwellsrhubarbginger.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/strawberry-rhubarb-pie-why-havent-i.html and I have updated it to include a couple of new processes that ensure a crisp bottom layer of pastry.

Ruby in her second year - she's 6ft tall now!

If you have rhubarb growing - or know someone who does, do make this pie.  It really is something very special.
 

Tuesday's dinner : comfort food!

I've decided to start a little, "in between" feature.

Between recipes, I thought I'd post up what we had for dinner that night.  Just a quick post, with a couple of photographs at the most, with a view to helping those of you who are a bit lost for inspiration, not to mention people like me who just like to look at photographs of yummy dinners!

Now I won't be doing this for EVERY meal we have - the Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger facebook page is for that!  Just ones that I think you might be interested in.

Do - please - let me know if you don't like this feature, or if it irritates you, won't you?  Good, thanks!

So, what did we have for dinner tonight?  Well, hubby was in charge in Risotto Chef mode.  Using the lovely carrots from our Vegibox delivery (I'll tell you about that very soon) he made a gorgeous carrot, bacon & courgette risotto that was just the last word in comfort food.  He grated the carrot and the courgette and used some julienne of carrots in the scrummy Essential Cuisine vegetable stock to increase the carrotty flavour.  Light and fresh flavoured, it was one of those dishes that I could have kept eating for as long as the plate or my tummy lasted.  Fantastic.

I polished off the last of the rhubarb with a spoonful of Cornish vanilla ice cream and son & heir had chocolate sauce with his, for dessert.  So deliciously sinful!  :)

Spiced Rhubarb Foolish

Being the beginning of October, it isn't altogether surprising to hear that our rhubarb bushes are beginning to shut up shop for the winter.  Now, because they are so abundant, we had a complete triffid in the shape of Ruby (the original bush) and a triffid-in-training in the shape of Ruby 2 (her daughter).

Thanks to some high winds the other night, Ruby had suffered a little bit and hubby was required to go out there with his No.1 Slasher (i.e. a big knife) and harvest everything harvestable from her, before the rot set in.  We've yet to tackle Ruby 2 who survived unscathed being as she is, cuddled up in the corner of the garden, yet the freezer is full already and a good many of the neighbours are catered for.

So the requirement was to find good uses of Ruby's bounty.

Now son & heir has been rabbiting on (ever hopeful!) about my making Rhubarb Fool.  For all that I love the idea, I have been resisting it simply because a cream-laden Rhubarb Fool really isn't the type of dessert that any of us should be eating.  However, then I had a blindingly good idea.

You see, Rhubarb Fool can be made in two ways.  Firstly, there's the the cream and fruit variety and secondly, there's a custard and fruit variety - in which case the cream goes into the custard.

My brilliant idea was to use both cream and custard, but separately.  Yes, I know that seems a bit counter-intuitive if you're trying to cut down on the amount of cream that's involved - but hang on.

I had already trimmed the sugar content in the fruit, by using Splenda 50/50 with sugar when I made the rhubarb compote for the fool.  Said compote was, by the way, simply chunks of rhubarb, 1 heaped teaspoonful of mixed spice, a drizzle of ginger syrup and a tablespoonful of water with a 50/50 mix of Splenda and sugar, simmered until the fruit was soft, but not broken up, and retaining some of its tartness.  It is good to have the texture of a soft chunk of rhubarb running through the dessert.

Rhubarb, spice and syrup - just beginning to cook

So - getting back to my bright idea - it occurred to me, that instead of using an entire pot of double cream to whip up and then stir the rhubarb into why not use half the amount of cream - and a carton of Ambrosia light custard?  Inspired!

So, I whipped up a small amount of cream and folded some of the rhubarb compote into it, leaving just enough plain unadulterated cream for a blob on top of the Foolishes (as they had then become known).

I then began to assemble the desserts by spooning some of the rhubarb compote into the bottom of a sundae dish.

Then, it was a blob of the fool mixture, then a blob of custard, side by side.

Drizzle over more rhubarb compote, then add a blob of fool mixture and a blob of custard - except at different angles to the original, so that the difference in colour and texture can be seen.

Add a touch more compote and finish with a blob of the reserved whipped cream.

Oh yes.

The Spiced Rhubarb Foolish dessert was born.  Take me home, country roads - it was gorgeous.


SPICED RHUBARB FOOLISH (serves 3)

Ingredients :

450g fresh rhubarb, sliced into half inch chunks
1 tsp ground mixed spice
200g granulated sugar (use 1 dessertspoonful of Splenda & 100g sugar, if you prefer)
2 tbsp ginger syrup
250ml double cream, softly whipped
250ml Ambrosia light custard.

Method :

1.  Taking a medium sized saucepan, add the rhubarb, spice and ginger syrup and begin to heat on a medium heat.

2.  When the rhubarb has begun to soften around the edges, add the sugar and the tbsp of water if required.  You may not need the water, depending on how much is naturally in the rhubarb.  Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved.

3.  Simmer until the fruit is soft throughout, but not broken up, and retaining some of its tartness.  It is good to retain the texture of a soft chunk of rhubarb, instead of just mush.

4.  Set aside to cool thoroughly, until stone cold.

5.  Whip the cream to soft peaks and reserve three teaspoonfuls separately.

6.  Gently fold some of the rhubarb compote into the cream mixture, until it is softly pink and obviously contains rhubarb.

7.  Begin to assemble the desserts by spooning into the bottom of a sundae dish, some of the rhubarb compote.

8.  Next, add a blob of the fool mixture, then a blob of custard, side by side.

9.  Drizzle over more rhubarb compote, then add a blob of fool mixture and a blob of custard - except at different angles to the original, so that the difference in colour and texture can be seen.

10.  Add a touch more compote and finish with a blob of the reserved whipped cream.

Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge until required.

Printable recipe

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Small batch chutney making : Spiced Rhubarb Chutney

Ever since Ruby our rhubarb plant, started to get really (no, really) big, hubby has been saying "we should make some rhubarb chutney".

Now I had a go at it, waaay way back when, which wasn't all that successful.  It tasted fine at the time, but I always know when something hasn't been as successful as it first seemed, because a) nobody eats it beyond the first day and b) nobody asks for it again.

So I'd been on the lookout for an "interesting" rhubarb chutney, but to no avail.  Everything just seemed like ordinary chutney, or was a "something else and rhubarb chutney", which would meant that the rhubarb took a back seat instead of being the star of the show.

Rhubarb, shallots, vinegar & spice - just starting to cook

As the year progressed, I was running out of time.  Ruby had burgeoned and been cropped twice and her growing year was coming to an end.  Then, sudden high winds overnight (no chortling, please - not THAT kind of "high winds"), left her battered, bruised and in desperate need of cropping.  Oddly, her daughter (Ruby 2) was left untouched by the gusty conditions, so we've got more rhubarb to come yet.

Cooking down and smelling amazing!

Hubby took the mighty kitchen knife and went out there last week and cropped a vast amount of rhubarb from Ruby.  We gave huge amounts to a neighbour and kept a small mountain for ourselves.  So far, that mountain has made this Spiced Rhubarb Chutney and a delicious Spiced Rhubarb Fool (yes, I'm big on spice at the moment).

I have no idea what to do with the remainder of the mountain, except make some more chutney, perhaps!

You see, this chutney is good.  No, it's very good.  The rhubarb is, without doubt, the star of the show and the mixed spice has served to warm it up beautifully.  The combination of the shallot, garlic and cider vinegar has had an amazing effect upon the tang and sharpness of the rhubarb.  Instead of being rendered a savoury version of a rhubarb jam, this is very definitely a tastebud tingler of a chutney.

The recipe had been in my hands all along.  I'd been given a book - The Complete Book of Preserving by Marye Cameron-Smith - a long time ago, by the lovely Laura Cousins.  I'd looked through it at the time, but it has since sat on the shelf doing nothing.  So when faced with a mountain of rhubarb, my thoughts became rather more focused and I suddenly remembered the book.  A quick peek inside led me to the Rhubarb Chutney recipe, which was so simple it just begged to be made.

It is, however, a very British chutney.  It's not the kind of chutney that you would have alongside a curry, for instance.  It is very definitely best with some salty, strong cheddar cheese - and in fact, when taste testing this batch (before it was cold, even), we'd got through a good percentage of our block of cheese.  Yup, it was that good.  I'm sure it would be fabulous with a pork pie, or some sausage rolls, too.

Because we don't have oodles of empty jars, nor oodles of empty cupboard space for the filled jars, I went for the "small batch" approach, in the same way as my jam making.  Being just a scaled-down version of the original recipe which made 6 pounds of the stuff (yes, I had to get the calculator out - my maths just isn't up to being able to work those sorts of sums out - and even then, I had to ask how many grams there was in a kilo), I saw no reason why it shouldn't work - and it did.

Next time, I'm going to make rather more and - ssssh! Don't tell! - use them as Christmas presents for those people who have everything and you just can't think of what to get them.  As hubby commented, well, money can buy just about everything - but it won't buy you this chutney!

Oh, and as a "cook's note" - I used the ultra-deliciously-gorgeous Maille Cider Vinegar.  If you should decide to have a go at this one, I heartily recommend you use it too - and why not have a teaspoonful neat while you're at it.  Your saliva glands will go into overdrive, but it's an experience that just has to be sampled.  I drink it by the tablespoonful now, as it seems to do good things for my arthritis.



SPICED RHUBARB CHUTNEY  (makes one large jarful)

Ingredients :

230g fresh rhubarb, sliced
38g shallot, sliced finely
a tiny grate of garlic (one third of a clove and no more!)
1 heaped teaspoonful of mixed spice
pinch of sea salt
85ml cider vinegar
85g granulated sugar.

Method :

1.  Into a small stainless steel pan, put the rhubarb, shallot, garlic, spice, salt and half the vinegar.

2.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the rhubarb is very soft.  I added a teensy tablespoonful of water as my rhubarb was resisting softening and the pan was running out of juice.

3.  Add the sugar and remainder of the vinegar and stir gently until chutney has thickened.

4.  Decant into a container and leave to cool.

Store in the fridge.

Printable version