RHUBARB CRUMBLE

Crumble is a long standing breakfast, lunch, dinner dessert in my house. Name any fruit, chances are someone in my house has made a crumble with it. They're pretty easy to throw together but yield such a delicious result. This time round, I opted for a rhubarb crumble. Tart fruit with a sweet and crunchy topping, all brought together with a scoop of ice cream. Excuse me while I go get seconds.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FRUIT

600g rhubarb

60g sugar

FOR THE CRUMBLE

120g flour

60g butter, softened

25g oats

70g light brown muscovado sugar

30g flaked almonds

30g roughly chopped hazelnuts

METHOD

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Roughly chop up the rhubarb into 2 inch thick pieces. Place the rhubarb and the sugar in a large, lidded pot over a low heat and stew for about ten minutes until the rhubarb chunks are soft. If you might like your rhubarb more tart, add less sugar and taste after the ten minutes. Add as much more as you like. Don't be tempted to leave the rhubarb on the heat for much longer, it will stew further in the oven.

2. Add the flour and chopped up soft butter in a large mixing bowel and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the oats and sugar and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the flaked almonds and hazelnuts to the mixture. These are optional, and you can vary the amount depending on your preference. The more you add, the rougher the texture.

4. Pour the rhubarb into an oven proof dish and cover with an even layer of the crumble mixture. Sprinkle another handful of flaked almonds on top. Bake in the oven for between 25-35 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown. Don't worry if the rhubarb bubbles up the sides of the crumble, perfectly normal. 

5. Serve warm with some homemade vanilla ice cream. And then go back for seconds, obviously.

HOMEMADE VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM

When it comes to ice cream, I like my intense flavours. That being said, for my first venture into making it myself, I decided to stick to something simple and classic. You can't go wrong with a decent vanilla ice cream, but when made with real vanilla beans and only a handful of other ingredients, the flavour far exceeds anything you can buy in a tub. Dollop on top of warm chocolate cookies, pancakes or eat by the spoonful straight out of the jar. I halved the recipe I found here, and loved the tips on how to reuse your vanilla pods.

INGREDIENTS

makes approx. 500ml

125ml (1/2cup) whole milk

75g sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

250ml (1 cup) heavy cream*

3 egg yolks

1 tsp pur vanilla extract

*I used double cream, but in future will use regular cream so it won't be as heavy.

METHOD

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 1L bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making.