In April, I harvested some rhubarb from the massive plant we have in our garden (about 1.5 kg worth!) and chopped it up and froze it into three bags. One bag went in a rhubarb and custard tart which looked nice, tasted great, but was a nightmare to get out of the tart tin as I had made my pastry case way too thin. It wasn’t pretty on plates, but it did actually taste like those rhubarb and custard sweets, so that was a result!
One and a half bag is still sitting in the freezer (any recipe suggestions?) as on Wednesday night I made some scones with rhubarb and vanilla (with a few strawberries thrown in too!). I based my scones on this recipe from Kirsty (who as a fellow Invernesian – and an actual one, rather than me, an incomer!) which was fortunate, especially as I text her to ask whether I should roast the rhubarb after defrosting it.I took her advice, which was to coat the rhubarb in sugar after defrosting. I also drained the juice off.
With that, and my trusty supervisor Bartie watching from a distance, I sped through the recipe with some minor changes:
-
I didn’t have buttermilk in, but squeezed a tablespoon of lemon juice into the milk, creating the same effect.
-
I didn’t use vanilla extract with the wet ingredients, but did scrape the seeds of a vanilla pod into the dry ingredients instead of the ginger.
I always forget to substantially flour the surface when kneading the dough before rolling out, so grabbing the flour jar with hands covered in dough is never a good idea, as I nearly dropped the jar on the floor. Must have all ingredients to hand next time!
-
- My supervisor, carefully watching from a distance!
-
- Rhubarb, straight from the garden. Strawberries however.. straight from tesco!
-
- All the dry ingredients (including the seeds from a vanilla pod)
-
- When making scones it’s important to use cold butter rather than butter which is at room temperature
-
- Once the scone base had been mixed, it was time to add the fruit!
-
- After some kneading on a (heavily) floured surface, I used a square cutter with both a fluted and straight edge.
-
- Straight out of the oven
-
- Piled up on the rack to cool!
-
- And for good measure, some closeups of the fruit-filled scones!
How about the first Scottish recipe I learned to make: Drunken Crumble
http://binderofgreatweight.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/drunken-crumble/
That is an interesting recipe Maia, I would never have throught of using ground coriander in a crumble!
Neither would I, and I did it a bit reluctantly the first time! I was surprised how much i like it.
Yum yum yum yum 🙂 If you like the vanilla/rhubarb combo I can highly recommend this jam! http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/251611/rhubarb-and-vanilla-jam
oooh, now that is a good shout Shauna!