Rhubarb Crumble and gardening

It's been a bit cooler here this week, but my spring cleaning is still underway. Mr Laundrybasketcase was in the mood for a Rhubarb crumble and I found a delicious recipe by Gordon Ramsay which I highly recommend. Rhubarb is of course in season now in the UK, so it's perfect timing, and you should be able to find some delicious fresh rhubarb from a farmer's market now. My gardening skills are not quite good enough to grow my own, but I'm hoping to try it next year. In the meantime try out this recipe - it's got a couple of tweaks from the original.

Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble

• 500g rhubarb, trimmed
• 2-3 inch piece of ginger
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• Splash of Calvados
  

For the crumble

• 50g oats
• 100g plain flour
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 45g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 75g demerara sugar
• Clotted cream or ice cream, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C/gas 6.

2. Cut the rhubarb into 2 inch pieces and halve lengthways if the stems are thick. Peel the ginger.

3. Gently heat the sugar in a pan until dissolved and beginning to caramelise. Add the rhubarb and grate in the ginger. Toss to coat. Gradually add the butter and shake the pan to combine. Allow the rhubarb to caramelise evenly, turning if necessary. Add a splash of dark rum and stand back as the alcohol may flambé. Cook for a further minute until the sauce is thick and syrupy and rhubarb is breaking down.

4. To make the crumble topping place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until evenly combined (if you want to make your crumble mixture a little stickier also add a splash of water at this stage). Transfer the mixture to a bowl until ready to use.

5. Spoon the caramelised rhubarb into the bottom of 4 small individual serving dishes. Sprinkle the crumble mixture on top and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

6. Remove from the oven and serve with a spoonful of clotted cream.

Mmmm... it really is tasty, and I think the reason this recipe is so great is because of the caramelised sugar, yum!

As I mentioned before, I'm a bit of a novice to gardening, but I'm keen to learn. Our back garden has allot of work that needs doing, so I started last year with the front garden. This is what the front looked like when we first moved in.

And this is how it looks now. My next plan is to replace the front path with some stepping stones.

I've also bought a propagator and I'm attempting to grow some verbenas. I've only just planted them last weekend, so I'll keep you posted as they are growing.

Are you any good at gardening? And how's your spring cleaning coming along?
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