Plum and Ginger Flapjack Crumble

I've never had much success making flapjack.  Although perhaps that's because I've only tried once.  I think I used Nigella's recipe from Domestic Goddess, and remember being distinctly underwhelmed by the result.  I don't know why I haven't tried again, perhaps with another recipe, because I think a good flapjack is hard to beat.  For me they have to be chewy and soft; just holding together, but not hard and crunchy.  Flapjack nirvana!

Well now I have managed to make the perfect flapjack, and even better it's part of a luscious Autumnal pudding. 

I stumbled upon this recipe in the Sunday Times magazine several weeks ago.  It's by Lucas Hollweg, who I believe has a new cookbook out.  I've never been a huge fan of a traditional crumble topping, but the idea of a flapjack crumble sounded wonderful to me, so when I saw plums for sale on Salisbury Market I knew I had to try.

I followed the recipe to the letter and the result was simply delicious - squidgy soft flapjack with the gingery fruit bubbling through.  It was fabulous hot, but I couldn't stop myself taking a teaspoon to the fridge throughout the following day to nibble away at it cold! 

I've since made the same topping to go on a base of gingery stewed rhubarb, and can report that it was similarly successful.

I think this is a recipe that I'll be using time and time again. 

Lucas Hollweg's Plum and Ginger Flapjack Crumble

Serves 6 (generously)

750g (1lb 10oz) plums, halved, stones removed
2 balls of stem ginger, roughly chopped, plus 2 tbsp of syrup from the jar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
150g (5½oz) butter, plus a knob extra
175g (6oz) demerara sugar
100g (3½oz) porridge oats
125g (4½oz) self-raising flour
2 tbsp golden syrup
5 tbsp double cream

 Put the plums in a saucepan with the ginger and ginger syrup, plus the cinnamon and a knob of butter. Heat gently for a few minutes, until the plums have started to soften.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Put the plums in an ovenproof gratin dish (about 23 x 23cm/9 x 9 in and about 5–6cm/2–2½in deep), then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the sugar.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, the remaining sugar and the flour. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Now add the golden syrup and cream and mix well. Tip onto the oat mixture and stir together. Spoon on top of the fruit, level out in a thin even layer about 1cm (½in) thick – try not to make it any thicker, or it may not cook through. Put in the oven and bake for 40–45 minutes, or until set and golden brown.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes before eating so the top can set a little (this also prevents you from burning your tongue). Cream or vanilla ice cream are the obvious partners in crime.

Stolen Treasures

If a tree laden with fruit is growing in someone's garden, but the fruit is hanging over a public footpath, then is it stealing if you pick it?  This was the question that flitted through my mind as I hurriedly filled my empty sandwich box with luscious sweet Mirabelle plums on a local walk a few weeks ago.

I had done a cursory check into said garden, and established that no one was home, and salved my conscience by telling myself that there were literally thousands of plums on this tree...  but I couldn't help but feel a little guilty about taking them.

However, once home I put all guilt aside and set to turning these golden beauties into jam. 

Mirabelles are a small variety of plum - the perfect size for stoning with a cherry-pitter, and much less messy to do so!  They were perfectly ripe so were stoned with ease, and were soon bubbling away with some sugar and water. 

The recipe I used - this one, from the fabulous River Cottage 'Preserves' handbook by Pam Corbin - instructed one to crack some of the plum stones to extract the kernels and give the jam a slight almondy flavour.  But this sounded dangerous (I had visions of trying to bash them open with a hammer...) so instead, just as setting point was reached I added a scant teaspoon of almond essence.  This has provided a wonderful addition to the fruitiness of the jam - the almond flavour is subtle, but adds a real depth to the preserve. 

As you can see, I upped the almond level in one of my three jars by stirring through a generous handful of slivered almonds, which should provide an interesting texture.  I had never added nuts to a jam, but I have my fingers crossed that it will be a successful experiment.

A quick check through my kitchen cupboard has revealed that I now have 5 different varieties of home-made jam, all made in recent months.  With blackberries still to come, I fear that there will be even more by the time 2009 ends.  We don't even eat that much jam...  I think we'll just have to make the clotted cream tea a weekly occurance!

Ruby Food

Part of our recent Summer holiday was spent in Devon, staying with my parents.  It's an area that we both love, and it's great to have a base down there, with lots of family in the vicinity.  This year was also a special one, in that it was both my parents', and my aunt and uncle's Ruby Wedding Anniversaries.  40 years - impressive!  The Summer of '69 must have been a busy one for my grandparents.

I began thinking about a present as soon as heard that there was to be a family party, and soon came up with the idea of a red-themed hamper.  Sometimes I get struck by a wave of anti-consumerism, and horror at the sheer amount of 'stuff' that people seem to own nowadays (myself most definitely included), and luckily this feeling ties in neatly with the idea that home-made and edible gifts are lovely to receive. 

A quick browse through my many 'preserves' recipe books provided inspiration aplenty, but I thought I'd share one of the most successful projects with you: Ruby Fizz.  Earlier this Summer we had great success with making Elderflower 'Champagne', using this recipe, or something quite like it.  To be honest, there are a multitude of different recipes out there, each with varying quantities of elderflower, sugar, water, etc, so take your pick!  We soon got to thinking that we could use the same principle to create any kind of alcoholic (and it is alcoholic!) fruit fizz.  As we had a basket of the wild plums that I mentioned previously in this post, and a bag of foraged blackberries in the freezer from last Autumn, this seemed the perfect place to start.

Simply crush the fruit - enough to cover the base of a clean washing-up bowl - gently with a potato masher, and add about 500g of sugar.  This will seem a lot, but the fermentation process 'eats' some of the sugar, so the finished product shouldn't be too sickly-sweet.  Pour on 1 litre of boiling water and stir to dissolve the sugar, then add 2 litres of cold water.  This should create the ideal temperature to activate the yeast - add a pinch of dried yeast now.  Stir, cover with a clean tea towel, and wait...   After a day or two, you should begin to see signs of the fermentation starting.  As you can see from the first photo, ours looked rather sinister, like a bubbling swamp!  A quick taste will confirm that it is beginning to fizz.  After 3 days, scoop out the fruit (pic 2) and then strain into PLASTIC bottles (can't emphasise this enough - read what can happen if you try to use glass), leaving a few cm free at the top.  Then leave the bottles for at least a week.  Of course, plastic bottles can explode too, so every day I opened the lids very slightly just to let the excess gas escape.  You will hear a very satisfying fizzzzzzzzz when you do this.  In fact Rob and I began almost racing eachother downstairs in the mornings for the privilege of being the one to do this daily job!  You'll see the bottles begin to bulge ominously if you don't do this every day, so be sure not to go away on holiday at this point.

 

 

 

Et voila, Ruby Fizz ready for the hamper.  We have also kept a couple of bottles of this.  It's several weeks old now and has 'aged' well.  It's definitely worth chilling it thoroughly before serving as it remains very 'lively' when opened!  

So the fizz went into the hamper alongside the Cherry Jam, Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam, Cherry Ratafia (liqueur) and Raspberry Vinegar (all homemade, and mostly with foraged fruit), and the Ruby Port, Lindt Chocolates and bar of Bourneville Chocolate (bought, obviously) to complete the gift.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes were made for the afternoon tea, 'dressed' most beautifully once again by some gorgeous Cupcake Wrappers made by the wonderful Dani - check out the website here.  I asked Dani if she had suitable wrappers for a Ruby Wedding and she went to the trouble of ordering some new papers, and sending me several samples to choose from.  Now that's customer service!

The cupcakes were filled with macerated strawberries, and topped with cream cheese icing, much as I did with the cherry ones earlier in the Summer.

The party was a lovely occasion - many congratulations to Jenny and Bob, and Nick and Gwen!

Wild Food (once again)

Some unexpected hedgerow treats from the last few days...

Wild raspberries, masses of plants growing near Ivinghoe Beacon, the fruit tiny but bursting with sweetness. We didn't bother to take these home, just picked them and popped them straight into our mouths. I suppose we should have washed them, but any stray insects were just considered extra protein.




Growing very locally - spotted by Rob on his way home from work this afternoon - some kind of plum! We have seen a few of these trees growing in the hedgerows recently. Confusingly they have plum-coloured leaves, so it's hard to spot the fruit. However there's plenty to be found on close inspection.



We managed to collect a whole punnet during 10 minutes of picking earlier today. The fruit is firm but juicy, sweet but with a lip-puckering tartness too. I'm not sure I will cook with these, I think we'll just eat them as they are. I mean, there's only so much jam a girl can make...

If anyone knows what these are, then I would be very interested to know. And obviously do let me know if they're poisonous... preferably before we eat them all!



And some tantalising glimpses of what is to be foraged next season:

Walnuts.



And hazelnuts.



Not to mention the apples, crab-apples, sloes, haws, rosehips and elderberries that I have my eye on, all growing within 5 minutes' walk of the house. I'd never wish away the Summer, but I can't help but look forward to the Autumn just a little bit!