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Tag Archives: walnut

Rhubarb Crumble

30 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

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Tags

cinnamon, crumble, dessert, honey, less sugar, oven, rhubarb, sugar, walnut

Individual Rhubarb Crumble

I work on Lower Marsh, a fantastic little street hidden behind the imposing Waterloo Station. If you’re ever in London it’s definitely one of those hidden gems that’s worth a visit.

The local fruit and veg guy, Dave had a pound of rhubarb for 90p so I though I’d try making rhubarb crumble. I used honey instead of sugar for the rhubarb.

What you need:
4 sticks/ 1 pound of rhubarb
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp water
2 tps cinnamon

For the crumble:
100g flour
80g brown sugar
50g butter
(optional crushed walnuts and cinnamon)

Heat your oven to 180C.
Cut your rhubarb into small chunks or small slices. I cut them into slices as I made small separate crumbles and thought they would look prettier, but this is really up to you. If you are making one big crumble then place your rhubarb in the oven dish you will be using to make the crumble. Add the honey, water and cinnamon and mix all together. Place in oven for 20 – 30 minutes, check every 10 minutes and stir if necessary. It is ready when they are tender and soft.

Rhubarb

When choosing what oven dish to use make sure not to use one that’s too big as the rhubarb shrinks as it cooks so you want it to be stacked up quite high.

For the crumble
In a bowl place the flour, cut up butter and sugar, and rub all the ingredients together until the mixture has a crumb like texture. You can add in cinnamon, crushed walnuts or any other (dry) ingredients you fancy trying. You will probably have some crumble left-over, it is perfect for freezing and takes minutes to reuse once removed from the freezer for any future crumbles you fancy making.

Once the rhubarb is ready place the oven dish you want your rhubarb crumble to be cooked in. Then sprinkle the crumble over. How much you sprinkle is really up to you.

Sprinkle the crumble

Place your dish in the oven for 30 minutes – it’s ready when the crumble takes on a golden colour. Serve hot or cold with a drizzle of fresh cream or custard.

Enjoy!
Mel

Cinnamon and Walnut Banana Cake

28 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

banana, cake, cinnamon, flour, healthy, honey, no sugar, raisin, walnut

Two bananas have slowly been turning blacker and blacker on the top of my fridge. Now my flatmates are always happy when they see this happen as they know exactly what it means, it’s banana cake time!

My friend Claudia is the person who originally gave me her banana cake recipe but it’s different every time I make it now. I’ve realised it doesn’t really matter how much of anything you put in it as long as you have walnuts, cinnamon and honey.

This is a really healthy cake and is perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. I’m going to guess the weight of the ingredients I used, but please feel free to change them.

What you will need:

2 very ripe bananas (the blacker the better)
3 tbl of honey
50 grams of melted butter
150 grams of flour
½ tsp of baking soda
2-3 eggs
A big handful of walnuts
1 tbs of cinnamon powder
(you can also add raisins)

Pre-heat your oven to 180C. In a large bowl add the bananas and mush up with a fork and add in all the ingredients, there really is no order. You just need to make sure that you mix in the baking soda with the flour. Mix everything together with a spoon.

I usually use my bread tin but I couldn’t find it last night, instead I used a small ceramic oven dish and it rose more than it usually does, I’m definitely going to use that again.

Butter your dish and slightly powder it with flour, add you batter and leave in the oven for about 20 –  30 minutes depending how moist you want your cake.

PS: If your batter is too dry you can add a little milk

Have fun and let me know how yours goes.

Mel

A French Picnic…

01 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Salads

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Tags

apple, champagne, cheese, cherries, dressing, food, france, lettuce, picnic, salad, walnut

 

Melanie is off to France for a long weekend…aahhhh!
Cherries

Home picked cherries

I miss France so much right now that if I were allowed to fly, I would tag along!
 

A sunny day in France

Mel’s trip makes me think of a picnic we had in France when we were there, in the countryside, last May.
We had a delicious spread of wine, salad, pates, cheese and cherries – that were picked from her grandmother’s tree. It seems when most people think of food in France desserts, baguettes and champagne come to mind. But I think of the lettuce. The leaves are large but they have a soft texture and taste sweet. Boston/Bibb lettuce is the only kind of lettuce I can find in Chicago that reminds me of the lettuce in France.

Whenever Mel and I make a meal together, I know that we will have a salad with her famous mustard vinaigrette. The French always eat a salad with their meal because it helps digestion. Before meeting Mel, I had never heard of this but eat the same way now. When I make salad dressing I like to measure it all out, but not Melanie. The salad below is what I make to take me back to that lovely picnic. It has a tangy cheese, a tart fruit, buttery walnuts and the famous pungent mustard vinaigrette!

What you need:
Butter/Bibb lettuce

1 green apple (cored and cut)
1/2 cup of toasted walnuts
3 ounces of Roquefort cheese

Vinaigrette
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of olive oil
Sea Salt & Black Pepper

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