The Good Life

We had a successful harvest from the garden this bank holiday weekend, so to pay homage to this produce and dedicated my afternoon yesterday to the kitchen seeing as G, (or should I say Tom?! has dedicated his spring and summer to our little kitchen garden. We really are the Tom & Barbara Good of London.

our harvest

I was presented with some deliciously sweet husks of corn, perfectly burgundy beetroot, horseradish, sweet shallots, fiery red chillies, green peppers, cauliflower, rhubarb, tomatoes and a lovely big squash. It was my duty to turn these into a culinary fest to close our bank holiday weekend.

I started with the end and made a pudding from the rhubarb, there was enough for me to make two - one for us and one for the neighbours to share...it really is becoming a parody of the nations favourite seventies sitcom isn’t it?  Albeit our neighbours are thoroughly lovely and not like the annoying Margot – why would I cook for them if not?!

Last week my lovely friend Cathie gave me a book as a thank you for a few kitchen fairy additions to her 50th birthday spread. It was a delightful book Beyond Nose to Tail by those talented St Johns Bread and Wine chaps, Fergus Henderson & Justin Piers Gellatly. So this is not my own recipe, but I hope you don’t mind me plagiarising just this once as it sounded delightful and it really did taste as good as it sounds!  An amazing recipe from a fantastic book. It’s a real comfort dish; it’s a cake and a crumble, what more can I say?!

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

Measure 30g Demerara sugar and 30g of caster sugar into a bowl and add the zest of 1 orange and 3 large heads of rhubarb, chopped into 2cm pieces and mix.  Leave to stand for 30 minutes.

the rhubar crumble cake - ready to eat!

Next, cream together 125g butter and 125g of caster sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Next add 3 large beaten eggs, a little at a time to avoid the mixture curdling. Then fold in 160g of sifted self raising flour. Finally stir in 50ml whole milk.

To make the crumble mix, place 95g of butter into a bowl in cubes. Sift in 125g of plain flour. Rub in until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Add 60g Demerara sugar, 30g ground almonds and 30g of flaked almonds (I used toasted). Combine and set aside.

Grease and line a 20cm spring bottomed cake tin and add the cake mixture, followed by the rhubarb mix and then top with the crumble mix.

Place in the oven, preheated to 180oC for 90 minutes. I suggest placing foil over the top loosely for the first hour, the book suggest maybe doing so, but it’s a must.

I wanted to incorporate the beautiful beetroots into the main course. I had a lovely 1.7kg British duck from Waitrose so, I stuffed its cavity with an onion, a large handful of torn Lovage and a full bulb of garlic. Sprinkle the skin with salt and pepper. I put this onto 200oC for 30 minutes and then for another 75 minutes at 180oC. Take the bird out of the oven a couple of times to baste, but otherwise its fine to be left.

In the mean time I made a Beetroot Remoulade

I wanted something to compliment the richness of the duck, and this did so perfectly.

I peeled and boiled 2 beetroots, until just cooked, but still firm, left to cool.  During this time, I mixed 1tsp good quality mayonnaise, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp English mustard in a cup and whisked until silky smooth.  Once the beetroot is cooled, grate along with a small knob of fresh horseradish into a clean bowl and add the remoulade sauce. I have tried to adapt the remoulade from the French and Danish versions by using British ingredients and making it my own. Let me know what you think!

I served with some boiled baby British Charlotte New Potatoes.

Finally, the starter! One of my favourite soups – well actually a chowder, incorporating several ingredients from the garden harvest.

Crab, Corn & Harissa Chowder

I first tried this soup as part of a huge lunch at the Chef’s table of Gordon Ramsay’s Maze Grill. I have no idea of the recipe, but here is my take on it – and it works for me and indeed those who have tired it.  As I said before crab is my ultimate favourite and the opposite can be said of  my “Tom” but even he loved this!

Crab, Corn & Harissa Chowder Ingredients

Break up 6 large crab claws.  Mine had been frozen from fresh (I had never done this before, but did from some lovely crab my Mum brought from Yorkshire, it worked fine for this purpose).  If you don’t have a good local fishmonger than use 1 cup of white crab meat – though it must be fresh, (available from Waitrose or any good supermarket).  As you break the shells and remove the meat, throw the shells into a large pan and put on the boil for a minimum of 1 hour to make a stock and reserve the meat and place in the fridge.

Finely chop 8 shallots, 1 red chilli and 1 green pepper and gently fry in a large knob of butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan until softened, do not allow any of the ingredients to brown.  Slice 4 husks of corn vertically with a sharp knife to remove the kernels, if you don’t have your very own Tom, or the corn is out of season – then you can use 2 tins of corn drained. Add to the pan and stir for a couple of minutes. Then add a heaped tbsp of plain flour, 2 teaspoons of Harissa paste and mix. Then add, 1pt of crab stock (or fish stock if you do not have crab stock), then add half a pint of whole milk. After this add 1 crumbled chicken stock cube (I am reluctant to admit this but trust me). I use Knorr or Kalo. If you prefer not to use this use a little Nam Pla (Thai Fish Sauce).

Crab, Corn & Harissa Chowder

Simmer for 10 minutes and then add a large heaped spoon of chopped tarragon. Finally add 150-200ml of double cream. If required season with Maldon Sea Salt.

This can be turned of and kept on the stove until you need to reheat and serve.  This can serve 4-6 as starter comfortably. AMAZING!

I would love to hear how you get along with these recipes...

This really was a lovely afternoon in the kitchen and an even better evening in the dining room….cheers! xx