Wow, can you believe that it is almost the middle of August already? Mayo are in yet another football semifinal. We have suddenly arrived slap bang into the middle of the summer; the strawberries in my garden are beginning to redden and the rhubarb is crisp and delicious.
Rhubarb and strawberry crumble
Crumble is a beautiful dessert any time of the year and simple to make, but I especially love a summer fruit crumble, so here is my homemade recipe. This is as local as you can get for a dessert, you can use any summer fruit in a crumble, but at the hotel we have found the combination of rhubarb, cinnamon, and fresh strawberries to be a winner.
Ingrdients
Crumble mix
6 oz plain flour
3 oz butter
2 oz brown sugar
1 oz porridge oats
Filling
5 oz caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 ½ oz cornflour
1 ½ lb rhubarb, cut into ½ inch slices
1 cinnamon stick halved
12 oz strawberries, hulled and halved
Method
Hulled strawberries just means that you cut off the top green bit. Mix the caster sugar with the cornflour, and toss in the rhubarb, cinnamon, and strawberries. Leave them to soak for 20 minutes. To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour, until it feels like fine breadcrumbs, mix in the sugar and oats, and that is it.
Preheat your oven to 170°C. In an eight inch tray, add all the soaked fruits, taking out the cinnamon. Top with the crumble mix and cook for 45 minutes, until the fruit is just cooked and the topping is a golden brown.
Serve warm, or cold, with custard or cream, or a big dollop of vanilla ice cream, and enjoy……….
The perfect summer dessert.
Fresh lemonade
Nothing beats real homemade lemonade, and although it may be a little bit more expensive to make than to buy, the children will love helping and drinking this on a hot summer’s day.
Ingredients
1 cup white, granulated sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup )
1 cup water (for the simple syrup )
1 cup lemon juice
2 to 3 cups cold water (to dilute )
Method
First make a 'simple syrup'; place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir so that the sugar dissolves completely and remove from heat. While the water is heating for the simple syrup, juice your lemons. Depending on the size of the lemons, four to six of them should be enough for one cup of juice.
Pour the juice and the simple syrup sugar water into a serving glass jug. Add two to three cups of cold water and taste. Add more water if you would like it to be more diluted (though note that when you add ice, it will melt and naturally dilute the lemonade ). If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes.Serve with ice, and sliced lemons.
If you would like a recipe for anything at all, or have any culinary questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on [email protected] and I will do my best to help you out. Talk to you all next week.
