Rhubarb, Orange & Prosecco Jam

Well, it's been several months sinced i last posted, but it's time to get back into the kitchen & feed the houseboy up for winter. The summer has been filled with weddings (including our own wonderful day) an amazing Italian honeymoon, parties, hen do's & weekends away which have all been brilliant fun, but it's secretly quite nice now it's all calming down.

 

This time of year is great for jam making & due to our amazing (& very surprising) British summer there is an abundance of deliciously ripe fruit available. This is a recipe from a Jam & Preserves book i've had a while but never used - the recipe actaully calls for plain old boring water, but i thought i would liven it & add some prosecco & it works very well. The ginger isn't too overpowering & the orange really enhances the flavour of the rhubarb. It's quite a sweet jam (more so than say a raspberry jam) so would work well with desserts like greek yoghurt.

 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kilos of rhubarb
• 50g of fresh root ginger
• pared rind and juice of two oranges
• two lemons
• two pints of prosecco (its just shy of a bottle - top up with a little water)
• 1.75 kilos of sugar
• 15g butter

Method:

 

Slice the rhubarb & add two thirds to a large heavy based saucepan. Finely grate the fresh ginger, zest & juice the oranges & juice the lemons. Add these to the rhubarb along with the prosecco and the two half's of lemon shell (the pectin in the lemon helps set the jam). Bring the mixture to the boil & simmer for around 45 minutes to an hour with the lid off so the fruit has reduce by about half. Allow to cool & remove the lemon shells. Add the remaining rhubarb & gently simmer for about 5 minutes until the fruit is soft. Gradually stir in the sugar over a low heat until fully dissolved, bring to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer until it reaches setting point. Take off the heat, stir in the butter and skim the scum off the top. Pour into clean and warmed jam jars, top each with a disc of waxed paper & allow to cool completely before screwing on lids.

 

The Wedding Day

Pear & chocolate Tart

This time of year always makes me think of Apples, Pears & Pumpkin. The Houseboy is not fond of Pumpkin (or orange food in general really) so i thought i would have a crack at some Apple & Pear dishes over the coming weeks. They are amazingly versatile either in sweet or savoury dishes & are great cooked quickly or slowly. They also go well with Chocolate, but then again everything goes well with Chocolate. Last week we had the Philips' & their amazing new addition - Wee Angus (great Scottish name!) over for a midweek dinner. In line with my attempt at trying to spend a little less time in the kitchen - especially when people are over, i made Fish Pie with a Herb Breadcrumb topping which was mainly prepared the night before. It's one of my favourite dishes, it reminds me of mealtimes growing up, Mrs Rhodes makes a very good Fish Pie. Although i'm hoping she will be whipping up some spicy curries over Christmas after her recent jaunt to Sri Lanka (she does get around)

We celebrated Bonfire Night with the ever hospitable Miss Shannon who made a delicious Cottage Pie (nothing better on bonfire weekend i reckon) served with fresh Veg & lots of red wine. Living at the top of a lovely building in South Kensington she has access to an amazing roof space which has roof tops views over London. The local square were having a fireworks party & we decided to head up, red wine in hand to see if we could get a good view. It was definitely a good idea because as we were so high up the fireworks were literally going off at face height (although on the other side of the street so not too dangerous) A very fun evening had by all.   

Sunday afternoon was spent at The Rose in Fulham having lunch with friends while The Houseboy cheered on Fulham FC (to no avail) I've eaten there a few times & it's always good pub food, the roasts are always a winner. The pudding menu was woefully small (only two choices!) but the Pistachio Ice Cream was delicious, (thank you Mr Philips for recommending it) they always have a few good homemade Ice Cream choices. After a lovely lunch it was a short waddle home to spend a couple of hours pottering in the kitchen making Soup for the week ahead. I seem to be making a lot of Soup lately, my next flavour venture will be Beetroot & Horseradish.

This is originally a recipe by The Telegraph food writer Diana Henry which i have adapted slightly. It's incredibly rich & delicious. Try & find decent pears as the flavour is important. It's a great time of year for this dish as British pears are at their best, i used ground Almonds i already had them in the cupboard. 

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of ready to roll short crust pastry
• 125g butter, softened
• 100g soft dark-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125g ground hazelnuts
• 185g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 4 ripe pears
• 3 tsp caster sugar
• icing sugar, for sifting (optional) 

Method:

Roll out the pastry on a surface dusted lightly with icing sugar and use it to line a 25cm (10in) loose-bottomed tart tin. Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up. This helps to stop the pastry shrinking during cooking.

Put crumpled greaseproof paper into the tin and fill with baking beans. Put in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Turn down the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. 

 

To make the filling beat the butter and brown sugar until soft. Gradually add the eggs, then stir in the hazelnuts. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool a little then stir into the egg and nut mixture. Fill the part-cooked pastry case with this. 

Peel, halve and core the pears, then set them on top of the filling with the small end in the middle (you may find you only have room for seven rather than eight halves). Sprinkle some caster sugar on the pears so that they glaze a little during cooking. Bake in the oven for 40 for 45 minutes. The tart is ready when you can feel with your finger that the centre is just set. 

Leave the tart to cool a little before removing it from the tin. It's nice warm or at room temperature. You can leave it as it is or sift a light dusting of icing sugar over it. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.

Healthy Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse.

If i hadn't been having quite so much fun i swear i would think i have just lost the last three weeks.... I can't believe its September already, the nights are drawing in quicker & there's more than a trace of autumn blowing through London town. I love this time of year, the slight nip in the air first thing in the mornings, the fact you appreciate your feather duvet again & of course more excuses to eat hearty food. September can be a beautiful month is mother nature plays fair...

The last few weekends definitely have had a Scottish flavour with 2 trips north & Mrs Rhodes visiting from the Borders. Heading home is great as always. Fresh air, lots of walks & catching up with family is the usual order of the day. I can never get over how reasonably priced fresh fish is up North, it's literally a third of the price compared to London & three times better. Mrs Rhodes & i got a little carried away & put together a seafood platter which was pretty impressive. A second trip north was to celebrate Miss R. Shannon's 30th birthday in the lovely seaside village of Ellie in the Kingdom of Fife. More walks, lovely weather, epic birthday cake & lots of wine. We introduced the Houseboy to 'Buttries' an Aberdonian delicacy (Miss S & i both went to uni in Aberdeen) it's a bit like a salty flat croissant & very good with jam. 

A Rhodes & Rhodes Lunch Time Collaboration

The most exciting thing to happen last weekend was the arrival of my birthday present from the Houseboy - a Cannon 500D which is just completely, totally & utterly amazing. I'm so excited to start taking some proper shots of all the dishes i cook, it's something i feel lets my wee blog down at times. Very much looking forward to spending next weekend peddling around on my bike taking some shoots. There is the most amazing building on Lots Road in Fulham on the river which is used by the council in some way which i'm keen to explore. On Sunday the Houseboy & i had people over for lunch & had a kitchen collaboration. Last Christmas i gave him a days butchery course at The Ginger Pig & he came home with a beautifully done Rolled Shoulder of Lamb. (made me start day dreaming of us living in the country with the Houseboy becoming a butcher & me a Cheese maker) Using a Stephanie Alexander marinade of Anchovies, Chicken Stock, Thyme, Garlic & White Wine & resting the Lamb on a bed of Back Bacon (i'm not kidding) it was slowly cooked for 6hrs. The result was delicious & we served it up with Chive Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans. 

Ellie on the East Coast of Scotland.

As far i'm concerned this i THE holy grail of 'not so sinful' desserts. But alas i can not take full credit for the recipe. The brain child of Miss R. Shannon, who like myself strives to find delicious food that's not going to take a week to burn off in a sodding spin class. This pretty much smashes all the boxes. As the character Marjorie Dawes says... "its got half the calories so you can eat twice as much'. Don't be put off by the idea of tofu, you really can't tell once it's made, it gives it a nice nutty taste. Also great for people who want to avoid dairy. 

Ingredients:

• 400g silken tofu
• 150g 75% dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tsp brandy (optional)

Method:

Melt the chocolate gently taking care not to burn it. Pop the tofu, melted chocolate, sifted icing sugar & brandy into your food processor & blend to a smooth paste. Place into ramekins & chill. It's quite rich so its nice to serve with a couple of raspberries on top.

Ellie Beach.