Bramble Ripple Ice Cream

Autumn is well and truly here and you don’t have to look too hard around the hedgerows of the United Kingdom at this time of the year to find some free food.

It is such a great season for getting out with your children and doing a bit of food detective work. Plums, apples, pears and brambles are just some of the delicious fruit we have been plucking recently.

Brambles are a big favourite of my daughter. We make a day of it by donning protective gloves and collecting a few plastic bowls full before returning home to cook a multitude of dishes, from bramble pies, crumbles, jams and ice creams to sticky sauces for rich meats.

It’s free, fun and delicious, therefore making it priceless for the whole family.

Bramble Ripple Ice Cream

300g brambles
2 tbsp sugar
300ml double cream
200ml milk
4 egg yolks
100g sugar

1 – Put the brambles and sugar into a pan. Bring to the boil then cook gently for 5 minutes, crushing with a fork as you go. Allow to cool then push through a sieve and reserve the juice. 

2 – Put the cream and milk into a pan and bring to just under the boil.
3 – Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl then pour in the hot cream and milk. Stir then return to the pan on the heat, stirring all of the time. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon and cook on a low heat. The custard is ready once you can wipe a finger across the wooden spoon without the custard running.
4 – Allow to cool then pour into an airtight container and place into the freezer. Check every hour and stir with a fork to distribute the crystals. This can all be done in an ice cream maker of course.
5 – Once the ice cream is almost frozen but still loose enough to stir a fork through, pour over the bramble juice and lightly fold through. Return to the freezer to freeze through.
6 – Serve with fresh brambles and optional meringues.

Wild Fruit Jam

A day of plundering this weekend, and what a plunder it turned out to be. We sneaked over to our 'secret' sloe berry location anticipating disappointment after last year's wash out. And there before our eyes were bush after bush of the acrid berry that somehow transforms gin into liquid gold and, quite possibly, my favourite drink.

After plucking several kilos of sloes, the trip home became bonus time as we came across damsons aplenty. A quick shake of the branches and it rained wild plums onto our heads. Nature has more than made up for last year's harvest drought.

It helps to have a few little ones in tow when it comes to gathering fruit. Make sure they have some protective gloves on and away you go. With elderberries and brambles being thrown into the mix too, we eventually came home with more fruit than you can, erm, shake a tree at.

The sloe gin can wait until next week but the other wild fruit went into the pot for some loose jam ready for the yoghurt and muesli, porridge, hot muffins and one or two cakes and scones. There is something uniquely satisfying having made something almost for free and that pleasure doubles when you can have fun with your friends and family during the process. Happy days...

Wild Fruit Jam
Makes one large jar

1kg of wild fruit such as damsons, brambles, elderberries and sloes
200g caster sugar

1 - Put a couple of clean jars with the lids off into a hot oven and heat through for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven but leave in to remain hot.

2 - Place a couple of saucers into the freezer. 
3 - Put the fruit and sugar into a pan and bring to the boil. Give it a stir then fast boil for 10 minutes. Take a saucer out of the freezer and drop a little of the jam onto it. Put in the fridge for a minute then remove. Push it with the tip of your finger; if it crinkles, it's ready. If not, fast boil for another 5 minutes then repeat until ready.
3 - Carefully remove the hot jars with gloved hands then push the jam through a sieve into the jam jars (if you don't mind the skin and seeds, don't bother). Secure the lids and once cool, refrigerate. The jam should keep for 4 weeks.

Smokey Pork and Pepper Stew

Slow braised well worked joints such as shoulder, brisket and blade are perfect cuts to be rubbed in all kinds of herbed spiced sauces before cooking until melting point. Pork shoulder still remains one of my favourite joints to cook with and this meal, a kind of Hungarian goulash, remains a true family classic. 

A sauce containing plenty of char-grilled pepper, zesty orange and smokey paprika breaks down the meat seductively. You need time on your side and a little patience but it will all be worth it in the end.

Smokey Pork and Pepper Stew
Feeds 4

6 red peppers
1-1.5kg pork shoulder, boned and skinned
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped roughly
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp paprika, smoked or un-smoked
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tin of tomatoes
Zest and juice of 1 orange
A pinch of chilli
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/GM3. Put the peppers straight onto the gas hobs and cook, turning regularly, until blackened. Pop into a plastic bag and leave to cool. When cool, remove the skin as best possible (don't be tempted to wash) and remove the seeds. Chop up into a pulp and put into a bowl with any smokey juices.
2 - In a large frying pan or flameproof casserole dish, add the olive oil then add the pork. Cook, turning regularly, until golden all over. Remove and keep aside.
3 - Add the onions then slice the remaining peppers and add them. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened and beginning to colour. Add the garlic, paprika and tomato puree and cook for a further minute.
4 - Add the tomatoes, zest and juice of the orange and a pinch of chilli. Taste for seasoning. Stir thoroughly then add the pork shoulder. Pour in water until it just hits the top of the pork. Stir again then put on the lid and place in the oven. Cook for 2 and a half hours. Check it is done by trying to prise open the meat with two forks. If it doesn't come apart easily put back in the oven for 30 minutes then try again.
5 - When cooked, separate as much meat as possible so that it breaks up into the whole stew. Taste for seasoning then stir in the parsley. Serve with plain boiled rice, a spoonful of yoghurt or soured cream and more fresh parsley.

Rhubarb and Custard 'Burnt' Cream

What does a man do with excess supply of rhubarb? Well, the sensible option is to of course eat it. Rhubarb isn't around for too long and like I said last week, you need to at least try to make the most of the seasonal vegetables and fruit that are now beginning to appear.

Rhubarb has long been subjected to the old crumble treatment and although there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, we usually stop there, wondering what else to do with this highly acrid vegetable that requires a good dose of sugar to stop your face disappearing into itself on eating.

Grated and stuffed into duck with some fresh herbs is a good place to start, sitting the bird on a few sticks as a roasting bed which makes superb gravy. A tart rhubarb puree perhaps with a kick of chilli makes for a great accompaniment to oily fish such as the soon to appear mackerel or sardines. Or you could always do what my mam used to do to us as kids and walk around with a bag of sugar and a stick of rhubarb and give yourself an unusual belly churning Geordie treat, the treat being 'Treat with caution.'

Rhubarb and custard is probably the simplest partnership and a nice way to transform this classic into an alternative dessert is to mix the two together, bake slowly in the oven then burn a little sugar on the top for a rhubarb and custard burnt cream, or crème brulée to the masses. 

Rhubarb and Custard 'Burnt' Cream
Feeds 4-6 people depending on size of ramekin

4 small sticks or 2 large sticks of rhubarb, washed and trimmed
50g sugar
200ml double cream
100ml single cream or full fat milk
3 large egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
50g sugar
Icing sugar

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 140C/Fan 120C/GM1.
2 - Chop the rhubarb into chunks and place in a saucepan with a little water and the sugar. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until broken up completely. Leave to cool then stir to a puree.
3 - Pour the creams into a pan. Spilt the vanilla pod and scrape in the seeds then bring almost to boiling point before taking off the heat.
4 - Beat the egg yolks with the sugar thoroughly, and then pour onto the hot cream, stirring all of the time. Fold in the rhubarb puree.
5 - Pour the hot custard into the ramekins. Place into an oven tray then pour enough hot water in to reach halfway up the ramekins. Cook for 45 mins-1 hour or until it is just cooked with a slight wobble when you shake them.
6 - Cool completely, place in the fridge then when ready to eat, sieve on a good layer of icing sugar and tidy up the sides. Use either a cook's blow torch or a hot grill to 'burn' the sugar to a crispy topping to smash your spoon through.

Bacon, Lettuce, Asparagus and Tomato Sandwich (The BLAT)

I know that the old 'eat seasonal and local' phrase has become an over-used mantra to some people, and I also know that this philosophy is a difficult one to stick by when you are struggling with a large family and little money. So I choose to use it wisely and with caution when teaching; some people simply cannot follow the foodie idealist way of life and I can sympathise.

However, there are certain products that I feel so strongly about that I almost urge the nation to buy them when they are in season. Products that are in such abundance that you would be a fool to not make the most of their short window of growth.

At the moment asparagus and rhubarb are everywhere and I'm being given both of these vegetables on a regular basis from kind mates and family. I'm cooking with and eating rhubarb almost every other day and there are only so many crumbles a portly gent is allowed to consume in a week. So more rhubarb recipes, both sweet and savoury, will be appearing soon.

The best asparagus is almost at an end and this 'King of the vegetables' should be treated with great respect. My favourite way is to simply roast them in a little olive oil and balsamic and eat with a few shavings of Parmesan, Cheddar or crumbly Lancashire. Another great thing to do is team them up with some quality bacon in a kind of BLT or 'BLAT' which becomes a sandwich to beat all sandwiches. Probably the best sandwich in the world? I would say.

Bacon, Lettuce, Asparagus and Tomato Sandwich (The BLAT)
Feeds 2

4 pieces of thick white bread
8 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp quality mayonnaise
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
8 slices of good smoked bacon
A handful of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil or 2 tomatoes thinly sliced
Lettuce leaves

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM6/200C. Put the asparagus onto a baking tray and toss in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a little seasoning. Roast for 10 minutes.
2 - Grill the bacon until crisp and golden. Reserve on kitchen towel.
3 - Lightly toast the bread.
4 - Mix the mayonnaise with the mustard and spread liberally onto the toasted bread.
5 - Layer the bread with lettuce, hot bacon, asparagus and tomatoes and devour.

Rhubarb and Ginger Ice Cream

I’ve always avoided buying an ice cream maker for one reason only. I reckon that I would make a new ice cream at least once a week and that would do nothing for the old love handles. Unfortunately I’ve found a way of making perfect ice cream that doesn’t involve an expensive ice cream maker.

We have been experimenting with different flavoured ice creams for some time now using the patient method of freezing your ‘custard’ in a sealed container and freezing, remembering to churn the mixture at least every hour to help the ice crystals evenly distribute. Pain staking and easy to forget, you inevitably end up with a solid lump that needs a good 30 minutes of thawing. No good when you have children demanding the fruits of their labour NOW!

Cerys and I took a load of rhubarb from the garden and stewed it in honey and stem ginger, a difficult task when you have a ginger addicted daughter trying to eat whole stems and licking the sticky syrup dribbling down her arms. Once cooled, I could safely hand the reigns over to the little one for stirring in yoghurt and cream before sealing and freezing.

And the magic bit? Blitzing it in a food processor to make the most perfectly smooth rhubarb and ginger ice cream. Don’t forget to reserve some of the pink rhubarb syrup to make your own ‘monkey’s blood’ as we Geordies affectionately call it.

Rhubarb and Ginger Ice Cream

300g rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into chunks
100g honey or sugar
3 stem gingers and a little syrup to taste, roughly chopped
150ml natural yoghurt
100ml double cream

1 – Put the rhubarb, honey or sugar and a little water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb has broken up. Allow to cool.
2 – Remove a little of the pink syrup with a tablespoon and reserve. Stir in the stem ginger and syrup.
3 – Put the yoghurt, cream and rhubarb into a large bowl and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Pour into an airtight container and freeze until frozen.
4 – Remove and put into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Scoop into cones and drizzle on the rhubarb syrup.

Pease Pudding

The 23rd April brings what should be the English day of celebration in St George's Day. I often wonder how many of us English people will actually raise a glass to our patron saint as well as get stuck into a good old English meal. Not many I reckon.

Whilst we don comedy 'Guinness' hats for St Patrick's Day and have a 'wee dram' of the single malt stuff for St Andrew's Day, we all seem to forget our heritage when it comes to our special day.

Can we please bring it back oh folk of England? Can we please just retain some heritage and tradition and remember where we come from for one day of the year? I don't mean rampage down the street with faces painted destroying all in your way - we have enough of that around International footy day. I mean have some food and drink with your loved ones, feel positive about your heritage and be proud to be English for a change. I'm all for a multi-culturist society, love it in fact. But we should not be afraid to be proud to be English. Perhaps a bit of pride and a positive outlook is the key to this damned recession eh?

I'll be celebrating with some local food, pease pudding to be precise. I'm getting into making large batches of our most famed Geordie split pea concoction and freezing it for rainy days. I'll be simmering a load of split peas in a muslin bag along with a ham hock before toasting some stottie cakes, another one of our traditional foods, smearing liberally in English mustard and making the best ham and pease pudding butties in town. 

You will have a load of local traditional dishes where you come from. As we don't seem to have one dish that describes our wonderfully diverse food in England, it's time to look local and knock one up for you and your family. Enjoy it and tell the world that it's okay to be English.

Pease Pudding

250g yellow split peas
1 ham hock
1 onion
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
2 bay leaves
A handful of fresh thyme
5 black peppercorns
Water

1 - Place the yellow split peas into a muslin cloth and tie securely. Place them along with the rest of the ingredients into a stock pan.
2 - Cover with water, bring to the boil then simmer for 2 and a half hours.
3 - Drain the split peas then mash with a fork or blend depending on how smooth or rough you like them.
4 - Serve spread thickly in buttered thick bread, slithers of ham hock and English mustard.