Valentine Rhubarb Creme Brulee

Warm your way into your loved one's heart with an easy Rhubarb Crème Brulee Recipe….

Ingredients

200g Rhubarb trimmed and cut into 1cm pieces

4 tbsp golden caster sugar

2 med egg yolks

225ml double cream

Red ediable glitter to garnish

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Place the rhubarb in a small roasting tin with 3 tablespoons sugar and toss to coat. Roast for 20 minutes or until the rhubarb is very soft. Divide between 2 x 200ml flameproof ramekins and chill.

2. Place 2 tablespoons sugar and the egg yolks in a large mixing bowl and whisk until pale. Place the cream and vanilla seeds in a medium-sized heavy-based saucepan set over a medium heat and warm until the cream begins to bubble around the edges. Slowly pour the warmed cream into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan, and stir gently over a low heat for 20 minutes, or until the custard is very thick, coats the back of a spoon and holds a trail. Pour into a jug and divide between the 2 ramekins. Refrigerate for 6-12 hours.

3. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar evenly over the surface of the custards. For the best results use a cook's blowtorch, or place under a preheated grill, to brown the sugar evenly until nicely glazed. Allow the sugar to cool and harden for a few minutes, then serve. Decorate the plate with flower petals and sprinkle over the top with some red edibale glitter.

Top tip if you really want to be fancy make a heart template cut of of card board and use this as template to sprinkle your glitter. Also to impress you could use the remaining egg whites and make baby meringues and dip in chocolate for final romantic twist!

Motivation

Mark's February Allotment Update

At this time of year, I don’t know about you guys, but I sometimes need a little push to start off the gardening year. The weather this winter has done nothing but coax me to stay in the warm confines of my home and the memories of last summer seem eons away. I need to remind myself that spring is around the corner and there are jobs that need to be done.

One of my favourite late winter ‘jobs’ is looking through seed catalogues, trawling the internet and visiting garden centres to find new and interesting varieties (as well as the old trusted ones). I always grow several new types of flowers and veg each year to recapture my love and excitement for the growing process. It always works……… no matter how cold and gloomy it all is in January and February,as soon as I clear my plot and have the seeds to hand I cant wait for  the soil to warm up.

I have to admit that I have several days of hard work left before my allotment is ready for anything ! What with one thing and another it feels a little neglected and in need of some TLC. First job to tackle is to get rid of all the material that is too woody to compost. For some people this could mean hiring or buying a chipper/shredder, which would result in a heap of stuff to compost, or it could mean a bonfire or two.

 

I will go for the latter, as usual, but please remember to check the heap for wildlife before lighting and make sure that the wind is going in an optimum direction (I’m sure we have all encountered driving through  someone’s bonfire smoke on the road before).

Pruning my fruit bushes and weeding shall be next on the agenda. Thanks to my diligent weeding during the Autumn it shouldn’t take me long to get that ‘just dug over’ effect. That reminds me, as I have raised beds and my soil is light I have no digging to do. Result. All that is required is to add compost from my heap to a depth of a couple or so inches and then just lightly fork it over and add a few handfuls of a general fertilizer about 10 days before I sow.

The last big job to undertake is the tidying up of my herbaceous bed. I must say that this is one of my favourite late winter jobs. Just seeing those tiny shoots emerging through the soil is enough to prove to me that the warmth and joy of spring is just around the corner. Wow,writing this article sure has worked for me as I now want to get out into my garden and prune,weed,burn,fork-over,repair and makes plans for the coming seasons………let’s dream about summer barbeques . Roll on June.

Green Pastures Christmas Popcorn

"Popcorn Like You've Never Tasted it Before!"

;

You Will Need;

Popping Corn, approx 200g

Castor Sugar, to taste

Mixed Spice, 1tsp or to taste

Nutmeg (freshly grated), to taste

1 Whole Orange Zest

1 Whole Lemon Zest

Butter, approx 250g

Method;

• Pop your corn in a tight lidded pan or in a popcorn maker. Set aside whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
• Melt the butter in a pan and mix in the mixed spice, grate in a whole lemon, orange and nutmeg.
• Pour over the fresh popcorn and sprinkle with the sugar.
• Give the bowl a stir and a shake.
• Smell the Christmas cheer and tuck into a popping spiced Christmas treat!

Turkey and Brussels Bubble and Squeak Cakes with Red Pepper Sauce

(Recipe courtesy of Robert Garner, our Turkey Farmer!)

Serves 4

For the Cakes;

You will Need;

1kg floury potatoes, peeled, washed and cut into chunks

60g butter

200g Brussels sprouts, trimmed

1 small onion, peeled and very finely diced

300g cooked Totally Traditional Turkey, skinned and chopped

50g plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

Rapeseed oil, for frying

Sea salt and black pepper

A little freshly grated nutmeg

4 eggs, poached

Rocket, to serve

Method:

• Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes until tender, drain, add half of the butter and mash well. 
• Meanwhile cook the Brussels sprouts for 5 minutes until just tender, drain, cool and shake dry and shred finely.
• Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and fry the onion until just soft, cool slightly and add to the mashed potato.
• Mix the sprouts with the turkey, potato and cooked onion and season to taste. 
• Leave until cool enough to handle then shape into 8 cakes.
• Tip the flour onto a plate, coat the cakes, and gently tap off the excess flour.
• Heat a large frying pan and shallow fry the cake in rapeseed oil, do this in batches for 4 minutes each side, turning carefully.
• Drain on kitchen paper and transfer to a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
• Serve with a little rocket, poached eggs, red pepper sauce (see below) and rocket.

For the Sauce

You will Need;

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 450g jar roasted red peppers, drained

1 tsp red wine vinegar

½ tsp caster sugar

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic, fry over a low heat until the onion has softened. 
• Add the red peppers and cook until they are heated through.  
• Transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the vinegar and sugar and season with sea salt and black pepper, blend until smooth.  
• Add a little water if you require a thinner consistency. Serve warm or cold. 

This sauce will keep for up to 5 days in a fridge or freeze  any sauce leftover.

Tip: You can use leftover mashed potato and cooked Brussels sprouts.

Sarah's Seasonal Roast Potatoes

Transform your roasties by following Sarah's simple steps. 

You will need;

Desiree Potatoes this is one of the very best potato varieties for roasting as they keep their shape well whilst the centre is nice and fluffy. We love the flavour too; a proper "potato" taste!

Goose or Duck Fat

Fresh Rosemary

Semolina

Christmas Tunes (optional!)



Method;

• Peel Potatoes
• Par boil for approx 5 mins or until there is a little give in the potatoes.
• Meanwhile get your roasting pan nice and hot with goose or duck fat.
• Chop fresh rosemary into almost a bread crumb consistency.
• Once the potatoes are par boiled, drain and leave them to steam under a tea towel
• Shake up the potatoes to rough-up the outsides and put into the roasting pan.
• Sprinkle over a dusting of Semolina and baste the potatoes.
• Finally, sprinkle over the Rosemary. Do a little Christmas as you do this!
• Pop into the oven at 200 degrees C for approx 45mins. 
• Baste again if you wish and they will be as crisp and as fluffy as Santa's beard!

MARK'S ALLOTMENT TRANSFORMATION!

As you possibly read in my first update I started my allotment way back in the spring and luckily had some holiday due so I got to work and cleared the weedy site and dug it over in no-time. It sounds so easy reading that back,but it was hard back-breaking work that I wouldn't want to repeat in a hurry ! Next was the building of the raised beds. Yes, wood is expensive, but I acquired mine really cheaply and if you look around (places like Ebay and Gumtree) I'm sure you could pick some up too. I treated mine with a preservative and  constructed them by screwing the wood  to 18'' pressure-treated 2 X 2.

I then had a couple of loads of mushroom compost delivered,which was barrow loaded into the beds. At this point the beds were only half full,but cost was an issue and I will gradually add more over the next few seasons (see later photo.....a great mushroom crop just from using the compost !) I took advantage of this improved soil to plant up a cottage border at the far end of the plot with plants brought from my own garden, so at least I now had something growing in my new plot.

By this time,the soil was warming up and the weeds had started to grow in earnest. I wanted to start with a 'clean' plot so I decided this time (and only this time) to use a herbicide. I used RoundUp,which I found did the trick,though I did have to repeat the dose as there were several patches of perennial 'thugs' to eradicate.

I had decided to cover the paths in woodchip. Not only does it keep down the weeds,keep in moisture but it looks good too. I found a supplier in the free ads paper,whom was reasonable and could deliver at the drop of a hat. I used weed control fabric underneath the woodchip,for obvious reasons and the finished paths looked very pleasing indeed.

It then occurred to me that I had been so busy doing all the ground work that I hadn't yet planted any fruit and veg (whoops). The weather then took a turn for the worse and I couldn't actually do any work for a week or so,but when the sun finally came out I filled several of the beds with seeds,planted a whole bed of strawberries and planted an apple and a plum tree (from Green Pastures,of course!)

At this point I grew rather fond of my plot and pleased with all the work I had put in, so I entered it in the Norwich In Bloom competition in the best new' allotment category. Judging was due to take place in the second week of July,so I needed to get my skates on if it were to be ready on time.

I still had no shed at this point and spent several evenings on my PC looking for good deals, but it was hard work and I kept getting side-tracked and ending up on Facebook ! I tried bidding on a few on Ebay,but lost out each time, so I then just asked around and managed to pick one up AND get it delivered very cheaply. It took a while to erect (as neither myself nor my friend had ever built one before),but we had lot's of fun trying and after a paint job it looked as good as new and ready for action. As all of my tools had been stolen a few months earlier ( a long story!), I now had an amazing  8' X 6' shed,but only a fork, a trowel and a hand fork to keep inside it ! (this did change and I now have a plethora of gardening implements at my disposal).

The End of June was here and some of my crops were beginning to ripen,but I didn't want gaps in the rows for judging,so I still had to buy my veg from the farm-shop ! Crazy,I know,but I was now really serious about the competition. I put up a couple of archways ,bought a table and chairs and just weeded,snipped,pruned,watered and waited for judging.

Judging was to take place sometime over five days,so each evening I had to visit the plot,water and weed where necessary and then go back home to cook my 'purchased' vegetables and not be tempted by the massive crops that were now waiting for me to pick and eat. By the Saturday,I knew it was all over so I ate my first delicious produce and smiled to myself.

A week went by and I thought I hadn't won .......... but.......I had!!!!  I'd won the Best New Allotment In Norwich !! Yay!!!!

Here's to next year. Mark.

Sarah's Spiced Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

175ml sunflower oil

175ml Light muscovado sugar

3 Large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

200g coarsely grated pumpkin flesh (squeeze out any water from the flesh)

100g sultanas

Zest of one orange

2 tsp ground cinnamon

200g Self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting

200g tub full fat cream cheese

85g icing sugar

Toasted chopped pecans to decorate

1.   Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases. Pour the oil into a large bowl and add the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat together, and then add the grated pumpkin, sultanas and orange zest.

2.   Stir in the cinnamon, flour and bicarbonate of soda, the mixture will be quite wet. Spoon into the cases. Bake for 25 mins until firm and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. At this stage you can freeze the cakes for 4 months.

3.   To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth then spread on top of the cupcakes. Leave plain or decorate with toasted pecans. Store in the fridge, but return to room temperature to serve for the best flavor and texture.