All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Greengage and Almond Ice Cream

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Greengage and Almond Ice Cream
When I planted my goldengage tree it was more out of curiosity and fascination than potential fruit volume. The fruit that I cannot get elsewhere or the rarer varieites are those that I chose to plant. My goldengage is in its second year and it produced seven fruits. I picked the two ripest and quartered them to share so that we could all enjoy a slice of this evasive plum. It was the most honeyed and nectarous of all the plums I had ever had. My quince is in its third year and has thus far given me nothing. Both trees have given me a wonderful blossom but with the weather and what not this hasn’t been my year. Perhaps I am a little strange but I like to think my trees have personalities. The old apple tree is always top of the class; plenty of fruit but none that is particularly flavoursome. The apples are meant for pies and crumbles not really for eating. My goldengage seems to be the one that always tries really hard but makes a few mistakes. The quince seems to be a stubborn brute but you just know that when it does fruit there’ll be more than I know what to do with.

I am very fortunate that my local greengrocer shares my passion for the slightly unusual. They can’t go too far into the bizarre for fear of scaring away all their customers but they do try to get quinces, medlars, mulberries and the like. The lady who runs the shop is almost more enthusiastic than me about greengages. She has tried to get the golden but they are rarer than anything. I will happily settle for green if golden isn’t around. And for the perfect summer dessert my Greengage and Almond Ice Cream is just the ticket. read more

Rhubarb and Custard with Blood Orange Sauce

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rhubarb
Rhubarb makes a wonderful crumble and a devilishly good fool. Its astringency can cut through the most fatty of foods and its delicate colour is about the only thing around at the moment that isn’t green or brown. It’s also citrus season with Satsuma’s, tangerines and blood oranges galore. It seems a shame to eat all the members of the orange family just for their cold preventing benefits.  

I was one of those children who would pick out the sourest, most mouth puckering and sharpest of sweets. Sherbert wasn’t quite tart enough for me and so rhubarb and custard sweets were my saviour when all the sour apple ones had gone. They soon became my favourite; when you were turning the sweet over in your mouth you never knew if you were going to get a burst of sour or a shot of sweet. Although I do enjoy one of these sweets occasionally I have moved on to a more grown up version.

This is the very first of the English forced rhubarb I could get my hands on. It was nestled amongst a load of potatoes, swedes and cabbages; poking its pink feet out asking to be picked up. Admittedly my first thought was crumble but on my travels I walked past a sweet shop and my thoughts turned to rhubarb and custard. read more

Gateau à la Crème

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This classic French dessert sounds so impressive but it’s so easy to make and I didn’t have a food processor with a dough hook either! I used my hand mixer and it did the job perfectly. Raymond Blanc made this recently on the television and I was determined to give it a go. Don’t be put off by the bountiful amounts of butter and the gargantuan number of eggs. It’s a treat and so worth the effort.

Ingredients

What you will need (for a Gateau à la Crème and a brioche loaf):

For the brioche dough
500g strong plain flour
A few pinches sea salt
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp yeast
7 free-range eggs
300g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

For the crème filling
6 free-range egg yolks
60g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice and zest
250ml crème fraîche

For the glaze
2 free-range egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
25g/¾oz butter, cut into cubes read more

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