[June 16th]
I am going to visit my brother in Liverpool. He is of the impression that I need Cheering Up.
There was some faffing this morning. Did not mean to. bed was comfy, radio was interesting, bag needed re-packing, boxes needed sorting. I discovered the fine CB1 coffee shop and their marvelous coffee and wifi though, given that it was inevitable I was going to miss my train.
Wisdom attained today
- Time of task will always expand into time available. Rediscovered this. When will I learn?
- When unprepared or broke, biscuits are an acceptable and appreciated present to give hosts, especially if hosts are one’s brother and girlfriend. And instantly gratifying as biscuits are inevitably opened upon your arrival and served with tea. I did not remember biscuits, thinking that somehow in between my home and Liverpool the perfect gift would magic its way into my rucksack.
- Rhubarb was waiting for ginger, and now it all makes sense
OK about this rhubarb crumble. The other week, I tried this ginger-with-rhubarb thing. A few weeks ago I happened upon a delicious recipe that involved caramelization and flambe of the rhubarb and ginger and rum. It was amazing, but I felt like I was cooking for several days.
With access to much of the same ingredients, I wondered if there was a better way – nay, a lazier way – to similarly yummy results. I found it!
In the (new) tradition of blogging, I’ll paraphrase a variation of the original.
Rhubarb and ginger crumble
- 800g trimmed rhubarb
- 200g self-raising flour, plus 2 tablespoons
- 200g demerara sugar – or any sugar found in your brother’s kitchen
- 2 knobs stem ginger – no idea what this is. I put loads in. We like ginger.
- 100g ground almonds – I used roughly smashed up sliced almonds – added nice texture
- 175g unsalted butter, chilled and diced – I used salty butter, seemed still yummy
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Wash the rhubarb to clean and then chop into 3cm pieces. Roughly chop the ginger – I grated – as grating is easier. Oven was at whatever temperature set hastily 5 mins before.
- Toss rhubarb in a bowl with the 2 tablespoons flour, half the sugar and the ginger. Arrange over the base of a 2 litre ovenproof dish. Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of water. – you see??? no pre-caramelized flambé! just chuck it all into a dish and be done!!! I used really strong rum – stroh – instead of water. Seemed popular. And effective.
- Combine flour, remaining sugar, ground almonds and butter using your hands* until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Scatter mixture over the rhubarb and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and crisp and the juices are bubbling up at the sides.
- Serve with custard. I served with really delicious ice cream. yogurt works well too. So you can pretend that you are being good and self-denying by having yogurt, but you’re really having a big bowl of sugary yummy goodness. with yogurt.
I discovered that my brother’s friend Martin is now married to someone charming and lovely, Stella, and is also appreciative of ginger rhubarb crumble. yay!
I get a little tipsy on red wine. Not much of a drinker these days.