Christmas is a-coming…

October 28, 2007March 14, 2020Leave a comment

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I had acquired a glut of rhubarb, which I finished off today while making Nigella’s Rhubarb Vanilla Mincemeat from Feast. I don’t like it when Christmas starts tooo early (particularly in areas of retail) but I didn’t want the rhubarb to wilt and mincemeat can only improve on sitting. Nigella says it would make an excellent gift, and after tasting some of the end result, I’m inclined to agree. So if you like what you see, take a number, stand in line…

First of all, I chopped up my stash of rhubarb-

It’s really that colour! To paraphrase Anne (she of Green Gables, that is), you could say “pink” a thousand times and it wouldn’t describe how pink this rhubarb is.

I then did something that falls into the category of “silly but not surprising for Laura.” I measured in the brown sugar, and the spices, and the dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants) before realising that the rhubarb and sugar needs to be simmered alone first before adding the fruit. So I spent a good ten minutes fishing out 300g of raisiny things out with a spoon, before I started simmering the rhubarb.

A darkly fragrant vanilla bean, sliced in half and then into bits. All the seeds are scraped into the rhubarb and the pods are chucked in for good measure.

Once I had simmered the rhubarb, I returned the fished out raisins, currants and sultanas to their rightful place! This needed simmering for half an hour, and filled the flat with a gorgeous, spicy fruity aroma.

Mincemeat! The rhubarb sort of “melted” into the fruit. The final step was to toss in some brandy (which I don’t have and so used the more-than-worthy substitute of Marsala All’uovo)

The mincemeat is now cooling, along with some black beans which I boiled and left to soak in anticipation of tonight’s dinner (I’m thinking something Mexican-esque.) Once the water heats up, the beans turn everything black:

Above: Oh, you sinister beans!

You Say Banana

October 16, 20071 Comment

Went out and bought some more asparagus today, for the express purpose of roasting it for tonight’s dinner. As I mentioned in the previous post, the weather here is rubbish – and it makes you want to EAT. We had a meatless dinner tonight, (A) because I hadn’t defrosted anything and (B) it’s good to make the meat go a little further by ignoring it sometimes. Our dinner comprised of roast asparagus, roast pumpkin, and a curiousity found in the Supersavers book called Cauliflower Bread. I have to admit the name drew me in. This oddity in no way resembles bread (it is in fact, gluten free) and is made of mashed potato, steamed, mashed cauli, eggs, cheese and butter all mixed together and baked in a makeshift bain-marie (ie, sit your dish in a roasting pan filled with boiling water while it bakes.) The result is actually really good, gratifyingly stodgy and almost a complete meal – protein, carbs, and veges in one. Didn’t take a photo because the batteries for the camera needed charging. But, luckily they were charged in time for dessert…

Kieran had bought a packet of puff pastry for some reason ages ago and admitted he was never going to use it. I acquired it, but decided to bake a pudding for everyone (well, everyone except Emma, luckily she was out.) Had a shmooze through some books before deciding upon the Banana Butterscotch Upside Down Tart from Nigella’s Forever Summer. Very simple – slice up bananas and place at the bottom of a pie dish (warning – you need a lot!) Melt butter, and a surprisingly small amount of sugar together, before stirring a scant tablespoon each of golden syrup and cream. Pour this caramelly mixture over the banana, then roll out the pastry, (I got Tim to do this – he actually did all the really hard work for this recipe) tuck over the top of the bananas, bake, et voila!

As you can see below, the pastry puffed up beautifully.

Above – the baked banana tart. Yes, our stove is grimy.

Tim also did the next bit – turning out the boiling hot tart onto a plate. I have to say, he did it without any stress and didn’t burn himself with the caramel as I undoubtedly would have…

Above – the finished product. Am not the most die-hard banana fan, and the idea of warm bananas doesn’t really light my fire but this stuff was super moreish. You probably don’t need me to tell you that it’s nearly gone already…

Whole Lotta Pav

October 14, 2007March 14, 20201 Comment

Last night’s dinner came about largely as a result of Tim deciding to clean out our freezer the other night. It hadn’t been touched since we moved in last November and was pretty feral. Anyway, he found some egg whites I’d frozen after making some ice cream all the way back in February! Also some spare ribs. In the interest of saving freezer space, I decided to defrost both overnight to play with. Yesterday morning, I marinaded the ribs in a pretty standard “bit of this, bit of that” fashion. Since it was out of my own head (but nothing revolutionary, mind you) I can safely tell you: 2 Tablespoons each of golden syrup, sesame oil, white vinegar, soy sauce all drizzled over the ribs in the roasting dish (lined with foil for ease of cleaning!) followed by a few shakes of cinnamon and some grated fresh ginger. I bought the ginger at Pak’n’Save the other night for 55 cents! And it smells unbelievably wonderful, really zingy and fresh, like sniffing a just-opened bottle of ginger beer. Tim, Kieran and I went into town because it was sunny (but we were fooled! It was also debilitatingly windy!) While sheltering in some shops from the cold we ended up buying two Jools Holland DVDs, the complete Black Books DVD, and Series 1 DVD of Outrageous Fortune, (don’t worry, there was a hefty sale) so…all was not lost.

I started making the pav when I got home, as the egg whites had defrosted just fine. The pav is gluten-free, which is good for Emma, and comes from Nigella Lawson’s Feast.

Above:Me, whipping up a storm. Those egg whites went HUGE!

I baked it on this great silicone baking sheet that Tim’s parents got me. It has useful circle measurements on it so i just filled in the one I wanted with all the marshmallowy eggwhites.

The baked pav was enormous!

Above:!!!

I made a kind of pilaf thing to go with the ribs as I thought it might complement the flavours. I didn’t end up taking a picture thought because…we ate them too fast. They were soooo good!

Emma, Kieran, Tim and I had drinks and played Pictionary after dinner. That’s the kind of flat we are…after Tim and I whupped them (okay it was pretty close) and before I had drank too much red wine, I decorated the pav to Nigella’s specifications. I have to say, it’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever made – as Twiggy on America’s Next Top Model would say, “The camera loves you!”

Above: The finished product. Pretty, no?