Monthly Archives: October 2019

Plum, Hazelnut and Sloe Gin Crumble

Autumn is well and truly here and with that comes the time for crumble.      This recipe sees deep jewelled magenta plums spiked with sloe gin,  bubbling through a golden knobbly, textured crumble that is laced with toasted oats and hazelnuts

I know everyone thinks of crumble as an easy, ordinary dish but I think with the few extra tweaks here it becomes something amazing.    Sloe gin and hazelnuts are a marriage made in heaven.   The two types of sugar really add to the depth and texture of the crumble and the toasty flavour you get from the oats and demerara sprinkled on top are worth it for the smell alone   I add, perhaps surprisingly, a few leaves of fresh thyme to the crumble mix which just work in a way you just can’t place  This recipe really is the embodiment of the “mellow fruitfulness” in Keats’ ode To Autumn

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Poached Ginger Pears with Chocolate Sauce

The texture of of a ripe pear when you bite into it is like nothing else.  It’s slightly grainy against your teeth yet soft and yielding.  Its lightly perfumed and so juicy it runs down your chin despite your best efforts. Sadly most of the pears we buy aren’t anything like that as pears do not properly ripen on the tree.   They ripen once picked from the inside out so if you grow and pick your own they all seem to ripen at the same time or else fall off the tree and bruise.  One solution to these problems is to poach the pears whilst they are still slightly firm so that not only does the pear turn juicy and flavourful but, kept in the poaching syrup, they will keep for several weeks in the fridge.  It’s a win win.

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Pear Harvest

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