Oliver Boliver

A little more baking....recipe for rhubarb and apple crumble

At the moment Innocent Smoothie hats seem to be taking over my life and I'm just putting the finishing touches to my latest festive hat for the campaign. I feel that Mr C is starting to tire of me thrusting some half finished hat in his face saying "can you tell what it is yet?" in a Rolf Harris style manner and making him guess what I'm trying to replicate next!

So for a bit of a treat and as a welcome break to knitting and crocheting teeny tiny hats for bottles I made a rhubarb and apple crumble at the weekend as a peace offering. It was delicious and sadly I didn't manage to get my camera out in time to snap a pic before it was greedily gobbled up by the hungry hordes!

 
 
Here's the recipe together with some "in the making" pics in case you feel like a tasty autumn treat...

Recipe for Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

450g rhubarb washed and chopped into short pieces
100g apples (I used our "eaters" straight off our apple tree - if you use cooking apples add some more sugar), peeled, cored and chopped into chunky pieces
100g caster sugar
60ml water
150g plain flour
50g rolled porridge oats
100g demerara sugar
180g unsalted butter (room temperature), cubed as far as it will allow

1. Chop the rhubarb and apple into chunky pieces.

 
 

2. Pop the rhubarb and apple into an oven proof dish and sprinkle over the caster sugar and water.

 
 

3. In a mixing bowl place the flour and butter and using your finger and thumb tips rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

4. Add the porridge oats to the flour and butter crumby mixture and stir gently. Finally add the demerara sugar and stir in gently so that it is evenly mixed.

5. Sprinkle the oaty mixture over the crumble so you have a nice thick crust. I must admit that I don't always have enough room for all the topping so don't feel you have to use it all.

 
 
6. Pop the crumble on a tray (to catch any sugary spills - saves cleaning the oven later) and pop in a preheated oven at 180c/gas mark 4 for 35- 40 mins or the top oven of an aga (on the 4th shelf down) for about 25-30 mins, until the topping is a nice golden brown and the filling is starting to bubble through the topping. If you are using an aga you might need to shield the top of the crumble using the cold shelf or a bit of tinfoil for the last 5-10mins. It depends on how fierce your aga is - I think mine is a bit on the angry side!

7. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream!

Recipe for Pork and Clam Cataplana

I first ate Cataplana when I was on holiday with my parents in Portugal. I was about 10 years old and had started to read menu's and choose things for myself. My parents later told me how they were genuinely surprised at the voracity at which I ate the clams, something which still holds true today!

The cataplana is actually a large lidded saucepan in which the dish is cooked and (from memory) served at the table. Having surfed the t'internet and improvising a few ingredients this is the recipe I came up with to feed the hungry masses for dinner last night:

Serves 8-10

1kg pork loin cut into inch size cubes
2kg clams rinsed in salted water for at least an hour to allow them to drop any sand from their shells
8 slices pancetta or bacon cut into small pieces
8 cloves of garlic smashed
4 tsp sweet paprika/pimenton
2 tsp hot smoked paprika/pimenton
1 1/2 cups olive oil (needn't be extra virgin)
2 tins chopped tomatoes (400g cans)
2 tbsp tomato puree
300ml dry white wine
1 large onion chopped finely
3-4 sticks celery chopped finely
2 red peppers chopped into 1cm sized pieces
Sea Salt and Black Pepper
Rustic bread to serve

1. Pop the paprika, garlic and olive oil into a large dish and mix well. Add the pork and marinate,  covered, in the fridge for at least 2 hours and preferably overnight.

2. In the largest lidded pan you have, gently fry the onions, peppers, celery and bacon in a little olive oil (2 tbsp) until the onions are opaque and peppers are soft.

3. In a separate frying pan, brown the pork in batches and tip the contents including the marinade into the pan containing the vegetables and bacon.

4. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and wine to the large pan and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and place the lid on and turn the heat right down to a very slow simmer. (I turned my hob down to 1 and I was using the 2nd hottest plate). Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.

6. Uncover the pan and add the clams. Replace the foil and the lid and continue to simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes or until the clams are open.

7. Serve in deep bowls with lots of bread to mop up the juices - yum!

As an alternative you could always simmer the stew (prior to adding the clams) in the oven on a low setting (about 120 degrees) for several hours so that the pork is meltingly soft if you are using a cut which needs gently cooking for much longer. Then continue at step 6 to cook the clams.

It was a surefire winner and confortably served 2 hungry 18 yr old boys (ahem young men - sorry boys), Mr C and I, one 2 yr old and 2 teenage girls who won't admit to eating as much as they actually did!

Here's a pic of Ollie who just can't get enough clams and is on his second helping....like mother like son!!

A little baking...

Every now and again we get overrun with eggs from Brenda, Pam and Paula aka The Happy Cluckers. More often than not we give them to our neighbours or family who probably dread us lurking at their front door with a recycled egg box full of odd sized eggs. When it becomes too embarrassing to hand them out I don my apron and start baking.  My favourite at the moment is meringue, which is a shame as it only uses the whites but our faithful lab, Meg, waits patiently knowing she'll get the left over yolks. Maybe it's a placebo effect but her coat really shines after she's carefully licked every eggy scrap from her bowl....

So here's a very simple recipe for my berry pavlova....

4 egg whites
175g golden caster sugar
pinch of salt
5ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
few drops of vanilla extract

284ml whipping cream/double cream
lots of summer berries

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add the caster sugar and continue beating until the peaks are stiff and shiny. Add the salt, cornflour, vinegar and vanilla extract and mix well.

Next, on a piece of baking parchment mark a circle approx 20cm in diameter. It doesn't have to be exact. Place the parchment onto a cold baking sheet.

Scoop out the meringue mixture onto the parchment, getting all (or at least most) of it within the circle and smooth the top and sides. 

Aga cookers - pop into the bottom shelf of the top oven for 2 minutes. Then move it to the bottom shelf in the bottom oven for about 2 hours. 

Conventional Cookers - Preheat oven to 180C (fan). Put the meringue into the oven and immediately turn it down to 120C and bake for 1.5hours. Then turn off the oven and leave the meringue inside the oven until it is completely cold. Alternatively, leave it to cool in the oven overnight.

Whip the cream and prepare the berries removing any stalks.

Place the meringue on a serving plate. I often turn it upside down as it makes it easier to top with cream. Then at the last minute, dollop on the cream and add the berries.

Enjoy!

If you're lucky ..... you might get someone to help with the cleaning up....................

Trick or Treat!

Sarah took Oliver round to our neighbours treat or treating on Hallowe'en. He was a little bemused to say the least and couldn't work out why he was knocking on other people's doors for sweets when he knew full well that there is a drawer full at home. Still, other peoples chocolate tastes much better; although why you'd put an apple inside all that tasty toffee is completely beyond him!

Damson Gin Recipe and Sloe Gin Recipe

The latest batch of damson gin is now sat on top of the fridge and should be ready in time for Christmas. It's a good job too as we managed to glug our way through the last of 2007's vintage at the weekend in a post baptism gin supping frenzy!

The recipe is fairly straightforward and consists of:

About 2.5 litres gin

1.5kg pricked and washed damsons

375g caster sugar

All popped into a 5l demi-john. I can never remember year on year exactly how much goes in the jar and usually end up plopping any left over damsons and topping up with gin as the original recipe fills the demi-john by about 3/4's. 

I love watching the pinkish syrup start to rise from the damsons a few days later before I eventually take the plunge and give whole lot a good shake. I try to shake the bottle every day or so to ensure that everything is getting mixed together well.  It should be ready to bottle just before Christmas and usually add some more sugar to taste. I don't like it too syrupy; just tart enough please! The amount of sugar largely depends on how ripe the damsons were to begin with and I just tend to put an evening aside to keep tasting as the sugar is gradually added. I definitley don't recommend doing this in the morning unless you wish to advertise that you are an old soak or indeed don't care!

The sloes should be ready soon and will be subject to the same recipe, again adding sugar to taste at Christmas prior to bottling.

All in all, looking forward to a very "merry" Christmas! Hic!