Apple Crumble

         What better on a cold winter evening than a hot crumble for pudding? We enjoyed making    

         this one at gardening club using Jojo Tulloh's lovely recipe from her book The Modern Peasant

       

         You can use this recipe as a basic formula for crumbles from rhubarb in the early part of the        

         year to sour plum and peach in late summer. We used cooking apples for our crumble.  

for the topping

200g flour

100g butter – cut into cubes

150g unrefined granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

for the filling
2 cooking apples
2 strips of thinly pared lemon peel
4 tbsp sugar
100ml water or apple juice 

         
          Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. 

Using your finger tips work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse sand. Set aside. 

Peel and slice the apple thinly...

...mix with the  sugar and cinnamon in an ovenproof pie dish. Arrange the lemon peel in the centre. Add the liquid.

         Scatter the crumble mixture over the top, smooth it down with a knife but don’t pack it down.

         Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the juice is bubbling and breaking through the crust.

 

Flat Bread

With short days and cold weather we have decided to try some cooking during gardening club. This week we tried easy peasy flatbread. Here's Jojo's fantastic recipe and you can see from the pictures how much fun we had making it, taking home the dough and cooking it to eat warm. 

Ingredients

300g strong plain flour

200ml warm water

½ tsp dried yeast

½ tsp sugar

a pinch of salt

olive oil

Method

Measure out your ingredients using scales and a measuring jug.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl.  

In a separate jug or mug add the yeast with a little of the warm water to make a paste. Mix into the flour mixture and then add the rest of the water a little at a time, mixing it with a spoon. The amount of water is more of a guide than an exact measurement. You want the dough to be soft and elastic (you can use lots of flour to help you handle it). 

 When it has come together, gather it up and start kneading it on a well floured work surface.

Knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough is pliable and elastic. You can oil the work surface if its too sticky. 

  

Place in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and leave for at least 10 minutes. We put ours in plastic bags to take home, leave to rise for a bit and then cook for tea! 

When you are almost ready to eat, start heating a heavy frying pan. Whilst the pan is heating divide the dough into balls, each one about the size of a walnut.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin into flat circles like pancakes. Slap the dough to get rid of any excess flour and place in the hot frying pan. Keep the heat medium hot. After 15 seconds or so turn it over (tongs help) and give it another 15 seconds. Repeat. 

The next step is to puff up the bread. Do this by placing each one directly over gas (if you have) it for about 30 seconds on each side. As the bread puffs up, move it around a little (the odd charred spot doesn’t matter). 

Line a plate with a clean tea towel and stack up the breads as they are cooked, keeping them covered all the time. If you have a microwave you can try ‘blasting them’ in a microwave for thirty seconds to puff them up but I have never tried this).  If you want to freeze your breads, just let them cool and wrap them in tinfoil.

Add sesame seeds or a spice mix like z’atar and dribble oil and salt over before you eat.

Kale Time

Kale is one green vegetable that grows all through the winter when nothing else seems too. We harvested ours and took it inside to sort through. It's really good for you and tasty too.

We made ours into crisps, a bit like toasted seaweed.
Wash and dry the leaves, cut the tough rib out of the centre and brush with olive oil then roast in a medium oven til crisp (about twenty minutes).

 Add some salt - yum!