We planted our first rhubarb last year (purchased from a big kræmmermarked at Bellahøj). And then tried to ignore it for while, since I read it is better not to pick any the first year.
Having patiently waited for what felt like ages, I picked the first of it in late Spring. It was a bit pathetic: about six sticks as thick as my finger. Perhaps it needs some compost? But anyway, I was determined to celebrate it, and decided on a cake, to try and make it go as far as possible. I didn't originally intend to combine it with strawberry, but felt like the cake could maybe use a bit more fruit and we had some in the house, so strawberries got in there too, and streusel topping seemed like a good idea, so here we go. I used this recipe.
(makes one normal-sized loaf cake)
For the cake:
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup veg oil
1 egg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp honey rum
1 cup flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
For the crumble topping:
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 - 3 1/2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped walnut
Heat the oven to 350F / 176C. Grease a loaf tin and line the base.
Beat together the brown sugar, veg oil, egg and rum. Mix the flours, ground ginger, salt and bicarb with a fork in a large bowl. Add wet to dry, and also add in the yoghurt. Mix until just combined, stirring in strawberries, rhubarb and walnuts in the final strokes. Dollop into the loaf tin and smooth out the top.
Combine topping ingredients except the walnuts: it should be
thick and clumpy. Mix in the walnuts. Sprinkle topping evenly over the loaf.
Bake for 55 - 65 min, or until a skewer comes out clean.
NB: a second harvest of rhubarb became rhubarb, strawberry, ginger and almond crumble - pretty much like this one, except using real butter and chopped whole almonds instead of flaked (again, included strawberries because didn't have enough rhubarb for crumble).
Showing posts with label crumble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crumble. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Spiced apple, raisin and walnut crumble
Our garden is overflowing with apples and walnuts at the moment, and if the windfall apples hang around indoors for too long they attract too many fruitflies. So we have been eating a lot of crumble. With apples in the filling and walnuts in the topping, this is a perfect summary of our autumn garden (slightly adapted from Delia - I have had to admit that when I improvise a crumble it is never quite as good as when I at least approximate a recipe).
Filling:
2 lb apples
1 oz light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
4 oz raisins
Topping:
6 oz self-raising flour, sifted
3 oz chilled butter, cut into small dice
4 oz shelled walnuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz demerara sugar
Core apples, and peel if you like (also good with peel left on). Cut into thick slices and toss in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice and raisins, then place in a baking dish. Heat oven to 400F / 200C. To make the crumble topping, place flour in a bowl and add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture. Finely chop the walnuts and stir them into the flour-butter mixture, together with cinnamon and sugar. Spread on top of the apples, smoothing out and pressing down lightly. Bake for 35-40 min, until the apples are tender and the topping is crisp. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 min before eating - good with some yoghurt.
Note: I have also been enjoying this without the crumble: secretly (cake crisis alert), I often like the fruit part of a crumble the best. So I have been making this just the same - filling a baking dish with apple, raisins, spices and a little sugar, but then skipping the crumble part, covering with foil and baking at the same temperature for the same length of time. It's better than stewing the fruit as it keeps its shape and develops a richer, less watery and more delicious taste - only problem is I eat it so fast! But I guess this is good, considering the windfall mountain.
Filling:
2 lb apples
1 oz light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
4 oz raisins
Topping:
6 oz self-raising flour, sifted
3 oz chilled butter, cut into small dice
4 oz shelled walnuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz demerara sugar
Core apples, and peel if you like (also good with peel left on). Cut into thick slices and toss in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice and raisins, then place in a baking dish. Heat oven to 400F / 200C. To make the crumble topping, place flour in a bowl and add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture. Finely chop the walnuts and stir them into the flour-butter mixture, together with cinnamon and sugar. Spread on top of the apples, smoothing out and pressing down lightly. Bake for 35-40 min, until the apples are tender and the topping is crisp. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 min before eating - good with some yoghurt.
Note: I have also been enjoying this without the crumble: secretly (cake crisis alert), I often like the fruit part of a crumble the best. So I have been making this just the same - filling a baking dish with apple, raisins, spices and a little sugar, but then skipping the crumble part, covering with foil and baking at the same temperature for the same length of time. It's better than stewing the fruit as it keeps its shape and develops a richer, less watery and more delicious taste - only problem is I eat it so fast! But I guess this is good, considering the windfall mountain.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Tyttebær / Preiselbeere / mountain cranberries or lingonberries
Another new fruit! I found these in our local Frugt og Grønt shop at the weekend, in addition to the epically wonderful selection of plums, pears and apples there is at the moment. I didn't recognize them, so I bought some.
Little round red berries. Labelled tyttebær. Without any green parts: just the berries. They look a bit like red blueberries. Or tiny round cranberries. S knew them when I got home: Preiselbeere. I recognized the name. He thought cranberry, but I knew that is tranebær, not tyttebær. And besides, these berries aren't the right shape / size to be cranberries. Then he got it: wild cranberries? Lingonberries! I knew the name in English also, but I never had them fresh before, only in jam (probably from IKEA). So, a Nordic thing perhaps.
They are tart. Very tart. I put some in a crumble with huge apples I'd also got from Frugt og Grønt. This was good, but they didn't explode like the bigger cranberries do, so the tartness remained concentrated in the little berries and wasn't diluted by apple. OK, but the blackberry one I made alongside was better - blackberry and apple is hard to beat!
The rest I mixed into a pan of freshly-cooked bulghur. This was better. The berries cooked quickly in the warm wheat, since they are tiny. And that softened their tartness. I mixed more in: some parsley and olive oil and so forth. I liked them better like this. Made me think of barberries in Iranian rice.
Little round red berries. Labelled tyttebær. Without any green parts: just the berries. They look a bit like red blueberries. Or tiny round cranberries. S knew them when I got home: Preiselbeere. I recognized the name. He thought cranberry, but I knew that is tranebær, not tyttebær. And besides, these berries aren't the right shape / size to be cranberries. Then he got it: wild cranberries? Lingonberries! I knew the name in English also, but I never had them fresh before, only in jam (probably from IKEA). So, a Nordic thing perhaps.
They are tart. Very tart. I put some in a crumble with huge apples I'd also got from Frugt og Grønt. This was good, but they didn't explode like the bigger cranberries do, so the tartness remained concentrated in the little berries and wasn't diluted by apple. OK, but the blackberry one I made alongside was better - blackberry and apple is hard to beat!
The rest I mixed into a pan of freshly-cooked bulghur. This was better. The berries cooked quickly in the warm wheat, since they are tiny. And that softened their tartness. I mixed more in: some parsley and olive oil and so forth. I liked them better like this. Made me think of barberries in Iranian rice.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Coconut kefir: oven-free rhubarb crumble
This fell together out of convenience, but as soon as it happened I realised it was brilliant: simple, and a perfect combination of delicious things. It is crumble without the oven: chilled for a hot day.
(these quantities probably enough for about 4 servings)
1 quantity (made from 1 lb rhubarb) stewed rhubarb and ginger
1 quantity (made from 1 tin coconut milk) coconut milk kefir
~1 cup granola
Dollop some (warm or chilled) stewed rhubarb in a bowl. Sprinkle with granola: this makes a sort-of crumble. Add some coconut milk kefir for a creamy, yoghurty texture on the side.
All of these items can be made in advance and kept in the fridge (kefir / rhubarb) or pantry (granola) until needed.
(these quantities probably enough for about 4 servings)
1 quantity (made from 1 lb rhubarb) stewed rhubarb and ginger
1 quantity (made from 1 tin coconut milk) coconut milk kefir
~1 cup granola
Dollop some (warm or chilled) stewed rhubarb in a bowl. Sprinkle with granola: this makes a sort-of crumble. Add some coconut milk kefir for a creamy, yoghurty texture on the side.
All of these items can be made in advance and kept in the fridge (kefir / rhubarb) or pantry (granola) until needed.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Rhubarb and strawberry crumble
I had a look around Allston farmers market yesterday. It was pretty tiny (3 stalls, one was bike fixing), but I bought garlic chives and rhubarb. Rhubarb's one of those things where if I see it I just have to buy it. As I was walking along after leaving the market a girl asked me if it was sugarcane sticking out of my bag - the rhubarb was big sticks - I had to disappoint her, but rhubarb is never disappointing to me.
One thing though, I always end up turning it into crumble, because rhubarb crumble is just the best. It tastes like childhood - we always had rhubarb growing - I remember in our garden in Chatteris (we left there when I was 8) we had some we forced under a big wooden box, and I remember being sent out to pick rhubarb many times in our East Linton garden.
I thought if I was going to make crumble yet again I should at least try out a few different ideas. In America it seems that the main use of rhubarb is strawberry-rhubarb pie. We had lots of strawberries, so I thought I'd put some with the rhubarb in the crumble filling. Rhubarb goes great with orange and ginger, so I bunged in a bit of each too. And I experimented with an olive oil based crumble topping (after the success of my olive oil biscuits I'm all about using olive oil in baking instead of butter, also we are pretty much out of marg) - based the topping on this recipe.
Filling:
~1.5 lb rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into 1 cm pieces
~0.5 lb strawberries, hulled and chopped
juice and zest of 1/2 an orange
~4 tbsp sugar
~1 tbsp cornstarch
Topping:
100g flour (used ~3 tbsp wholemeal and the rest plain)
100g oats
100g sugar
80ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
zest of 1/2 an orange
Heat the oven to 350F. Put all the filling ingredients in a 9in square oven dish or similar, and mix with your hands. Put all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until everything is evenly distributed and it is a good, chunky-breadcrumb texture. Level out the top of the filling and spread the topping across it, making sure it is evenly distributed to the edges. Put in the oven (on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over), cook for 40-60 min, until lightly browned on top and the fruit is soft when poked with a fork. Allow to sit for at least 10 min when it comes out of the oven, preferably more like half an hour - it will be bubbling hot.
This came out really good. I like the topping a lot, and another bonus is it is much quicker to mix up than butter-based crumbles. The filling is great too. I am finding that I can still very much taste the strawberry, rhubarb and orange as separate elements, and together the sweetness of orange and strawberry sets off the tartness of rhubarb... but I think I prefer the rhubarb simpler, with just something warming like ginger. Anyway, definitely a good experiment, and I'm looking forward to having more for breakfast tomorrow (perhaps the fruit flavours will have melded together differently?). Note: this makes enough crumble topping for my small, square Pyrex dish.
One thing though, I always end up turning it into crumble, because rhubarb crumble is just the best. It tastes like childhood - we always had rhubarb growing - I remember in our garden in Chatteris (we left there when I was 8) we had some we forced under a big wooden box, and I remember being sent out to pick rhubarb many times in our East Linton garden.
I thought if I was going to make crumble yet again I should at least try out a few different ideas. In America it seems that the main use of rhubarb is strawberry-rhubarb pie. We had lots of strawberries, so I thought I'd put some with the rhubarb in the crumble filling. Rhubarb goes great with orange and ginger, so I bunged in a bit of each too. And I experimented with an olive oil based crumble topping (after the success of my olive oil biscuits I'm all about using olive oil in baking instead of butter, also we are pretty much out of marg) - based the topping on this recipe.
Filling:~1.5 lb rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into 1 cm pieces
~0.5 lb strawberries, hulled and chopped
juice and zest of 1/2 an orange
~4 tbsp sugar
~1 tbsp cornstarch
Topping:
100g flour (used ~3 tbsp wholemeal and the rest plain)
100g oats
100g sugar
80ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
zest of 1/2 an orange
Heat the oven to 350F. Put all the filling ingredients in a 9in square oven dish or similar, and mix with your hands. Put all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until everything is evenly distributed and it is a good, chunky-breadcrumb texture. Level out the top of the filling and spread the topping across it, making sure it is evenly distributed to the edges. Put in the oven (on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over), cook for 40-60 min, until lightly browned on top and the fruit is soft when poked with a fork. Allow to sit for at least 10 min when it comes out of the oven, preferably more like half an hour - it will be bubbling hot.
This came out really good. I like the topping a lot, and another bonus is it is much quicker to mix up than butter-based crumbles. The filling is great too. I am finding that I can still very much taste the strawberry, rhubarb and orange as separate elements, and together the sweetness of orange and strawberry sets off the tartness of rhubarb... but I think I prefer the rhubarb simpler, with just something warming like ginger. Anyway, definitely a good experiment, and I'm looking forward to having more for breakfast tomorrow (perhaps the fruit flavours will have melded together differently?). Note: this makes enough crumble topping for my small, square Pyrex dish.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Rhubarb crumble and custard
We bought a big bunch of beautiful rhubarb at the farm shop last weekend. So many possibilities, but you can't beat rhubarb crumble / rhubarb with ginger. I remember trying to find a crumble recipe everywhere when I first started cooking - seemed like it was something too obvious and simple for anyone to bother writing one down. But so good though. And, since Bird's custard is egg free I figured vegan custard shouldn't be too tough...
Rhubarb Crumble
1.5-2 lb rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into ~1in long chunks
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 oz sugar
6 oz SF flour (or plain)
3 oz fake butter
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 oz sugar
3 oz flaked almonds / almond meal mix
Mix the rhubarb, fresh ginger and first lot of sugar and put into ovenproof dish ~ 8inx8in. Set aside. Heat oven to 400F. Rub butter into flour until like breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar, spices and almonds. Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit to make a thick layer with no fruit poking through. Put in the oven for 35-40 min. Remove and allow to cool for 5 min or so before eating.
Custard
2 cups fake milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp cornflour
Heat the milk and sugar in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla. Mix the cornflour in a separate bowl with a little water (1-2 tsp), then add to the pan and heat until thickened.
Custard was quite white, not yellow - adding turmeric gives a more yellow colour - but perhaps white is fine. The rhubarb was delicious (the farm shop rules, 100%) although the crumble wasn't perfect - could have done with another 10min in the oven perhaps?
Rhubarb Crumble
1.5-2 lb rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into ~1in long chunks
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 oz sugar
6 oz SF flour (or plain)
3 oz fake butter
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 oz sugar
3 oz flaked almonds / almond meal mix
Mix the rhubarb, fresh ginger and first lot of sugar and put into ovenproof dish ~ 8inx8in. Set aside. Heat oven to 400F. Rub butter into flour until like breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar, spices and almonds. Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit to make a thick layer with no fruit poking through. Put in the oven for 35-40 min. Remove and allow to cool for 5 min or so before eating.
Custard
2 cups fake milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp cornflour
Heat the milk and sugar in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla. Mix the cornflour in a separate bowl with a little water (1-2 tsp), then add to the pan and heat until thickened.
Custard was quite white, not yellow - adding turmeric gives a more yellow colour - but perhaps white is fine. The rhubarb was delicious (the farm shop rules, 100%) although the crumble wasn't perfect - could have done with another 10min in the oven perhaps?
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