Easter Monday Cooking Overload Part 1 - Rhubarb and Zero Ginger Crumble

As an adult, Easter doesn't hold the same charm for me that it used to. That desperate panic to eat as much chocolate as you could without anyone stopping you ebbs somewhat when no one really gives a crap. Now the appeal of Easter lies solely with the prospect of four days off. Four. Days. Off. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to school if only to appreciate how damn lucky kids are with school holidays. This Easter bank holiday was rather consumed with starting to dig over the small jungle that is our newly acquired allotment. There are actual trees (albeit tiny ones) on it and weeds which have grown into hedges and bricks and unidentified pieces of metal and so as complete novices it's all slightly overwhelming but thus far has been very enjoyable. I didn't realise quite how much exertion and sweat was involved in digging though, I literally couldn't see for the sweat pouring in my eyes. Plus, it was raining and yet I still managed to get sunburnt. On the plus side, my mum decided to lie down in the dirt because she was so knackered and then some nice bloke went past, clearly felt our pain and handed over 8 sticks of rhubarb from his patch so that was a distinct bonus. We might just hope people take pity on us lying in desperation on the soil and we live off allotment donations, saves us having to dig up the bricks. That does sound like a form of allotment based prostitution though, which really isn't the route I want to be heading down...


Anyway, with our gifted rhubarb in hand, I decided that I would have another crack at the rhubarb and ginger crumble recipe that I made from Leith's How to Cook. I really like this book, for a novice like me it is incredibly clear recipes with none of the usual chat/inspiration/history etc. that usually is present in most cookbooks. The recipe for Dauphinoise potatoes hasn't failed me yet, and trust me, I have buggered up a lot of Dauphinoise in my time.... I'd made the ginger and rhubarb crumble recipe a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think I used enough rhubarb and used WAY too much stem ginger, so it didn't exactly go down a storm with my ginger hating family. So, in light of the ginger fail, I used extra rhubarb and zero ginger. This was lovely and tart and sweet and everything one should expect from a rhubarb crumble. I still LOATHE rubbing the butter and flour together to make the topping though, it sets my teeth on edge.

In light of the fact I totally forgot to take a photo, here is a photo of our jungle allotment.

Recipe Wishlist - Shakshuka from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Over a year after I initially wrote my recipe wishlist, I have FINALLY actually cooked one. As you can see from the post title I chose the authors' version of the baked eggs and tomato dish that is such a staple across  Eastern Mediterranean and North African cuisines. I followed this recipe to the letter as I have zero natural talent for cooking, I'm having to do this from scratch! Having just said I followed this recipe to the letter, I actually didn't as the recipe called for 4 whole eggs and then 4 egg yolks as I didn't have 8 eggs, I just used the three whole eggs you can see in the terrible photo. Now, I don't know whether the lack of eggs is what threw the balance off, but this basically just tasted of tomatoes, there was a slight hint of the harissa but barely any garlic. I was also surprised that the only spices were the harissa and the cumin, I felt it could have done with perhaps more behind the acid of the tomatoes. I still enjoyed it though, all mopped up with French bread. I will definitely, definitely cook this again, though I am going to hunt down some other varieties (perhaps a recipe which starts with onion as felt very odd not having any onion) including additional spices and would love to add some merguez into the mix as well. And no, I didn't make my own labneh... Greek yoghurt had to step in and do the honours

Fingers crossed the next one won't take so long!