Rhubarb galette

Social media is awash with strawberries and cherries at the moment, and why not?  A short lived season of photogenic lusciousness.
We love the sheer, unadulterated joy of seasonal fruit and are lucky enough to have strawberry and pineberry plants and a glorious cherry tree.  Nothing beats a sun warmed strawberry eaten straight from the plant.  And the cherries taste sweeter for the victory of getting to them before the birds - we get the lower branch crop and they have their pick of the loftier harvest.

As well as the fresh fruit, there have been jams and gins, tarts and cakes and a Savarin Montmorency from our 1970s Cordon Bleu Cook Book, which calls for ¾ gill milk!  This was cooked in our 9" savarin tin.

But in addition to all this sexy red fruit, there is still some late season rhubarb flourishing at the bottom of the garden and it may not be so in your face but it is oh so delicious.

Here it is in a free form, inelegant galette, with an amateurish attempt at the picture perfect chevron patterns beloved of Instagram.  Okay, so I didn't measure each piece of rhubarb to ensure consistency, I didn't use a protractor for pinpoint accuracy and do you know what - I don't care, the taste was what really mattered.  Life's too short!

5 long sticks rhubarb
Grated rind of an orange
80g sugar
( I used orange infused sugar, made by placing orange peel into a jar of sugar - the sugar draws out the oil from the peel, drying and preserving it and flavouring the sugar. #wastenot).

150g self raising flour
75g butter, cut into small pieces
25g sugar
1 beaten egg

100g cream cheese
50g sugar
100g ground almonds

Heat the oven to 180ºC 
Cut the rhubarb into short lengths and place in an oven proof dish.  Sprikle the sugar and orange zest over the top and place in the oven.  cook for around 15 - 20 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft, but still holds its shape.
Check for sweetness and sprinkle on a little more sugar if necessary, but bear in mind that you will need a little tartness to counter the sweet pastry and filling.
Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the base and the filling.
LEAVE THE OVEN ON

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter.  Rub in with your fingertips until it looks like a bowl of breadcrumbs.  Add the sugar and distribute evenly. Mix in the beaten egg and bring together to form a ball of dough.
(All of this can be done in a food processor if you prefer - mine just happened to be full of bread dough)

Dust your worktop with flour and roll out the dough around 4mm thick.  Carefully transfer to a baking sheet, the 15" griddle plate is perfect.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth and then stir in the ground almonds.  Carefully spread this over the pastry base, leaving a 5cm border.
Arrange - or simply tip- the rhubarb over the filling.
Pull up the edges of the pastry to meet the filling.  this will form a nice crust and prevent any juices from running out and burning.

Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
Serve at room temperature.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Rhubarb, golden syrup and ginger cake

A lot of fuss is made of the beautiful, pink, forced rhubarb from the Yorkshire rhubarb triangle.  More especially perhaps in these days of Instagram, its blush so photogenic, the colour "popping" on the screen.

But I think I prefer the thicker, greener stems of field grown rhubarb, with its astringency and bite.  Of course, it does need to be tempered with sugar, I defy anyone to tell me they like unsweetened rhubarb, even in savoury dishes.  It also combines joyfully with other flavours; rhubarb and strawberry crumble is a firm favourite here.

This cake is a variation of a much loved steamed sponge and is a light and luscious foil for the tart rhubarb topping.

2 long sticks of rhubarb
Sugar to taste
120g butter
120g golden syrup
2 eggs
120g self raising flour
1 tblsp ground ginger

Heat the oven to 180ºC
Cut the rhubarb into thumb sized pieces and place in an oven proof dish.  Sprinkle liberally with sugar, you will have to decide for yourself how much you need, I used a couple of tablespoons.
Place in the oven for about 20 minutes until it is soft, but still holds its shape.

Set aside while you make the cake mix.
Lightly grease a 22cm cake tin 
Beat the butter and golden syrup together until light in colour and thoroughly combined.
Beat in the eggs.  Really beat in the eggs, then beat a bit more.
Fold in the flour and ground ginger.
Spoon the cake mix into the prepared tin and level it.
Carefully place the cooked rhubarb on top of the cake mix and put the tin into the oven.
Cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Serve at room temperature with cream or ice cream.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Day trip to Kent

A couple of weeks ago, I packed up the blue van and headed south to Kent for the day.
Yes, I know it's a long way, but when you can be sure of a warm welcome at the other end, it's worth the early start.

The motorways, M42, M40, M25, M26 and M2 were all clear of roadworks and "incidents", making the journey smooth and trouble free.

First stop was Pastures New in Rochester to drop off some new stock; a lovely shop with some delightful, hand painted children's wooden wares.  So if you are on the lookout for a very special, personalised present, go and talk to Sue.

A quick drive around the castle, after all why go all that way and not fit in some sightseeing, then off to Faversham.

At the invitation of the staff, I was spending a "Meet the Maker" day at Macknades Farm Shop, an impressive food emporium, cafe and retailer of Netherton wares.
As warm a welcome as my last visit and the coffee lived up to my memories too.

The product display in the shop looks great and, I guess, even without my standing there in my Netherton apron, regularly attracts a lot of attention.
Numerous staff and customers came over to chat and ask questions and a number of purchases were made too.

One lady even spotted our Twitter notification that I would be there and came over especially to me meet me - I felt like a minor celebrity.

Last time I visited Macknades, was in the autumn and I came home with a bagful of seasonal vegetables which were turned into a Selling Road salad.
This time, I couldn't resist the new season rhubarb and I have created this recipe with Macknade's in mind.  I think I shall call it a Faversham Flavourbomb

Social media and the press are currently awash with rhubarb and blood orange recipes, and as fascinating as it is to see trends emerge and take hold, I fancied adding a different element. 

6 stalks rhubarb

2 dessertspoon orange infused sugar (or granulated sugar and the grated rind of one orange)

50ml water

Cut the rhubarb into 1" long pieces and place in a prospector casserole 
Sprinkle the sugar over the top and pour in the water.

Cover with the lid.

Cook over a gentle heat for about 15 minutes,  until the rhubarb is just cooked.  
Taste and add a little more sugar if it is not to your liking.  Be careful, this will have a sweet topping, so don't go overboard.

120g butter

100g sugar

60g black treacle

2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 170ºC

Separate the eggs.

Melt the butter and treacle together in a saucepan, and set aside to cool a little.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

If you happen to have a bottle of beer open, add a splash to the eggs and carry on whisking.

Add the melted butter mix to the eggs and whisk again.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and then carefully fold into the egg and treacle mixture.

Spoon this over the cooled rhubarb in the prospector pan.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Serve warm, rather than piping hot either on its own or with Greek yogurt, cream or creme fraiche.

It is lovely and light, but with a rich, sticky toffee flavour.

I reckon this would also work with other sharp fruits such as egg plums or gooseberries, when in season.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Rhubarb and strawberry cake

I love the combination of these two classic English fruits - yes, I know that rhubarb isn't technically a fruit - the glorious sweetness of an English strawberry contrasting with the sharp bite of the rhubarb.

This works well in pies and crumbles, but as ever, I wanted something a little different and I needed to keep up my 20+ year tradition of trying at least one new recipe a month.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Diana Henry's fabulous book Food from Plenty for my birthday last month and was even more delighted when she recommended to me that I start with her apricot and almond cake.
Quite right she was too.............

.... but damn the woman, I am now constantly plagued to know when I am going to make it again.

Soooooooooooo, I decided to have a play around and came up with the following, just hope Diana would like it.

1 large stick of rhubarb - see method
8 small English strawberries
2 oranges
100g sugar

125g butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
170g self raising flour 
2 tablespoons sour cream
NOTE: I tried this with 170g rice flour too for a gluten free alternative  - scrumptious

Finely grate the orange zest and set to one side.
Cut the rhubarb into lengths to fit across a 1lb loaf tin  and place in a saucepan
Add the juice of the 2 oranges along with the 100g sugar.  Poach gently until the rhubarb is soft, but retains its shape.

Taste and add more sugar if needed.  Set aside and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 170ºC

Beat the butter, sugar and orange zest together in a large mixing bowl until pale in colour.
Add the eggs and beat again.
Fold in the flour and then the sour cream.
Line the loaf tin with oiled greaseproof paper - or use a butter wrapper.
Cut the strawberries in half - or slice them if they are too large.
Carefully lift the rhubarb out of the orange syrup and space it out in the bottom of the loaf tin.  Place the strawberries between the lines of rhubarb. Reserve the orange syrup.

Spoon the cake batter over the fruit and level the top.

Place in the oven and cook for 40 - 50 minutes - or until a skewer poked into the middle of the cake emerges free of gooey mixture :-)

Leave to cool a little and then invert on to a serving plate.

Spoon over the orange syrup and serve slightly warm with cream, Greek yogurt, creme fraiche or, now that you can finally get it here in the UK, Skyr, utterly delectable Icelandic thick yogurt

Serves 8

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk