34
2 Place cooked rhubarb into a shallow
ovenproof dish and if necessary drain of
f
excess syrup and keep to serve with the
pudding later. Allow to cool.
Crumble:
125g butter
125ml sugar
375ml cake flour
pinch salt
1 Cream butter and sugar. Sift in the flour
and salt and rub in with fingertips until
mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2 Sprinkle the crumble over the top of the
rhubarb and bake in a hot oven at 190°C
until golden brown.
Serve hot with custard or rhubarb syrup.
Rhubarb grows as a straight grooved
stem, 20-30cm or longer, and up to 2.5cm
in diameter. The stem is bright pink in
colour when young and divides at the
top into finger-like stalks, which are linked
by an oval and crinkly yellow-green leaf,
shaped, rather like a webbed foot. In older
rhubarb, the stem colour deepens to red
or greeny-red, as do the veins in the leafy
top. The leaf is poisonous and the stem
has a very sour taste. Although classed
as a vegetable, rhubarb owes its
popularity to the fact that it ripens early
in the year and is used as a fruit in
northern countries when other native
fruits are scarce. It may be eaten raw
when young, but is not to everyone's
taste; it is best eaten when cooked by
itself with a sweetener or combined with
other fruits. It can also be incorporated
into desserts and used in preserves
where its distinctive, sharpish flavour is
a bonus.
APPLE AND BERRY COMPOTE
Recipe by Silwood School of Cookery
Serves 4 - 6
4 - 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled,
cored and each apple sliced
into 6 wedges
100g sugar
juice of 1 lemon
zest of
1
/4 lemon
2 sweet geranium leaves
(optional)
250g fresh or frozen mixed berries
1 Place the apples in the pressure cooker
with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and
geranium leaves. Select High Pressure
and set the timer for 4 minutes. When
audible beep sounds, use Quick Pressure
Release to release pressure. When the
float valve drops, turn the pressure cooker
off. Remove the lid carefully, tilting away
from you to allow steam to disperse.
2 Stir in the berries and allow to cool.
Serve with cream or ice cream.
‘SAME DAY’ CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Recipe by Silwood School of Cookery
Serves 8
Christmas is not Christmas without the
ritual of Christmas pudding served in all
its flaming glory.
As Christmas is often a very hot day, we
offer this lighter version of the traditional
pudding.
60ml sago
±250ml boiling water
30ml brown sugar
500g dates, chopped into small
pieces
250g currants
250g raisins
50g cherries washed in hot water
then quartered
200g sultanas
50g mixed nuts finely chopped
10ml mixed spice
