Rhubarb-elderflower pie

Okay, at the moment i'm only at home during the weekends (and this w/e i'm only here on Sat and Sun-am), and i'm really having a hard time check of the food i buy (i always bring too much home). So last week's rhubarb was looking at me when i got home and the elder is still flowering sooooo beautifully around the house. Putting one and one together and inspired by rhubarb and verbena recipe, i decided to bake a rhubarb-elderflower pie that turned out great!

Ingredients:
Dough:
100g flour (i used half wholewheat/half plain)
30g demerara sugar
15g ground almonds
60g butter (frozen in cubes)
1/2 egg
Combine the flour, sugar, ground almonds, and a pinch of salt, add the cold butter and knead the dough very quickly. Add the egg till the dough just comes togehter. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30mins (preferably 1hr). Take 2/3 of the dough and either roll it out or just press it in the spring form tin (btw i used a 15cm (or there about) spring form tin). The other 1/3 you can either use to decorate the pie, bake sugar cookies, or eat (just be consider the raw egg that's in there). Put it in the freezer for about 15mins (or fridge for 30mins). In the mean time preheat the oven to 170C, and bake the shell blind for about 10mins.

Filling:
3 elderflower heads
500g rhubarb
2-3tbsp demerara sugar
1tbsp tapioca
1tbsp whipping cream
1/2 egg
Clean the rhubarb and cut in 2-3cm pieces. Put into a bowl together with the elderflower and sprinkle 2-3tbsp of sugar on top of it and mix well. Let it stand for 2-3hrs. Take out the elderflower heads, and put them in a pan together with the rhubarb syrup (add 1tbsp water if needed). Cover the pan and heat till it simmers. Turn of the heat and let it stand for approx 10mins. Put the syrup through a sieve, let it cool a bit and add the 1/2 egg and the cream.

Putting the two together:
Put the tapioca on the bottom of the shell, add the rubarb pieces and bake for approx 30mins. Then add the syrup/custard mixture and bake for another 10mins. Turn the oven off and leave the pie in the oven for another 20mins (or until the custard has set).

Bon appetite!

More cooking

So he dropped in last week to enjoy a piece of lemon pie (and dinner as well). We really enjoyed some of the recipes though not all. The 4 course menu consisted of: avocado-coconut soup, Welsh rabbit, quinoa-pilaf and the pie. If anybody is interested in the recipes, let me know (i'm too busy to write them down at the mo).

Variations on the theme

Since i haven't shopping for 1 person down yet i'm stuck with lots of white peaches and not a lot of time. And i fancied something sweet and nice. Thinking about all the lovely things i would be able to make with the peaches I suddenly remembered my mum making 'tarte de cambrai' when i was younger. She made it with cooking apples. Browsing the internet i found lots of recipes including pears. So i decided to give it a go with peaches.

The recipe:
4-5 peaches, 'peeled' and cut in quarters
55g flour
1 tsp baking powder
5g vanilla sugar
25g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 tbsp melted butter
60ml milk
1 egg
Mix everything together except for the peaches. Pour the batter in a small springform pan and press the peaches into it. Put it in a preheated oven (190C) for about 35-40mins. 

It turned out that i also haven't got the baking for 1 person down, so i'm now stuck with lots of pie. Anybody wants a slice?

New foods adventures

So today i managed to make okra for the first time ever (and had a taste of it for the first time ever), and it turned out to be very nice!

At the same time i managed to find exactly the amount of elderflower heads to try out something that i have wanted to try for over a year now: Elderflower champagne. I'll let you know how this project is going in a few weeks...

Spring clean

The first few warm spring days have finally arrived! *hooray* Interestingly enough for the past 1.5 week i've already been in 'spring clean mode'. Trying to sort out all the junk i've collected and instead of leaving it to lie around, i've actually been giving things a place to live. I think it might be contagious since the BF is now sorting out his paperwork as well (or might that just be my nagging?). I've also started to finish the loose ends that are hanging around. First and foremost getting back in touch with my herbs, but also the website (and at least the new spam filter seems to do it's job), books that have been on the nightstand for ages, places to live, what to do after graduation etc. Everything seems to get itself into some order. 

By the way, I can't wait for the nettles and cleavers to grow slightly bigger and make nice juices for a nice spring clean!

Nudging

After buying him his 3rd cookbook he got the clue and made me a 'cappuccinomascarpone-pie' on world pie day *big smile *

Dreams

A very prestigious project but it looks like it's really on a roll!!!

Sticky

When they say: 'sticky rice' they definitely mean STICKY. It had a tendency to stick to everything that came near to it. Luckily one can easily keep it under control with some water and rice vinegar. Yes, i had my first go at making some sushi and i must admit (as did he) that it turned out well. Plus if i hadn't told him it was vegetarian sushi he wouldn't have noticed.

Impromptu kerstdiner

Vooraf een pompoenmousse met een vleugje sinasappel, geserveerd met tijm-pecannootjes; als hoofdgerecht een lauwwarm gerookte brie met rode-wijn-rode-ui-marmalade, wortel en groene salade, geserveerd met een dun plakje bloedsinasappel en warme portstoofpeertjes met kaneelwalnoottaart en room toe. En dat alles in kluskleren!

(Ice-cream)-cold

Unlike a lot of people i'm not too keen on ic -cream. However, i got an ice-cream-machine as a X-mas present from work. Since i find it the season for maple-syrup, chocolate milk, and nuts and seeds I've found a maple-pecan-ice-cream recipe on one of the sites i regularly visit. Since i didn't have any pecans at the present moment i've decided to change it into a maple-walnut-ice-cream. It's in the machine now, so i'll give you an update soon!