Rhubarb and Strawberry crumble

 

This is not a timely recipe at all, but I came across this photo and wanted to share it with you. At the start of June, we had plenty of lovely tender rhubarb at the school garden. So we made a strawberry and rhubarb crumble. It was truly delcious - they are such a great combination.

I've had an item to make rhubarb and strawberry cordial on the to-do list since then, but I think that will have to wait until next June. Something to look forward to after my exams!

Busy weekend

Yesterday was a frenzy of seed planting - mostly flowers. Calendula, sunflowers, french marigold, foxgloves, poppies...

The tomatoes are needing to be repotted, so that was done, and got a lot of runner beans started.

At the allotment yesterday - planted the rest of the spuds, and onions and shallots. All the flowers are in too - so the cutting garden should be producing in a month or so - fingers crossed.

Today was back with the class, we put in loads of autumn fruiting raspberries - probably need a few summer ones, strawberries and blackcurrants. Sowed some carrots seeds on top of the sheet mulch, and put some sticks round the broad beans to support them. It's starting to look like something - must take some photos for here..

Jam and Chutney making

This months course is Jam and Chutney making - both on the one day - you can do either or both. I'm very excited to share these skills - especially the chutney - you can make a wide variety of chutneys, once you follow some simple steps, and you will have a great addition to your savoury dishes, and a lovely home made gift.

We'll be making Strawberry Jam in the morning - my mother - who is an award winning Jam maker, will be doing most of the teaching, she's the expert. If you have ever had home made strawberry jam, it's so much better than the shop variety. And you can work with the strawberries which are not so beautiful, so you can buy cheaper fruit from the growers.


Here are the details:


Make your own Jam August 15th 10:00am, to 12:30pm: €35
Make your own Chutney August 15th 2:00pm, to 4:30pm: €35

One course + Lunch: €45, or both courses + Lunch: €75



Location - Mullingar Educate Together National School (Opposite the 'Rathgowan' housing development on the 'C-Link' road - 3rd roundabout after the hospital from the Castlepollard side, 2nd roundabout from the Ballymahon side).

To book your place, email me - annambrowne@gmail.com

Making Jam

This week my mother and I made some delicious jam. We were going to make a Rhubarb/Strawberry jam - based on this one from David Lebovitz (what a great blog!)

Anyhow, we couldn't leave well enough alone, so we ended up with a variation with Rhubarb, strawberries and red currants. It's delicious, and has a nicely complex flavour.

Rhubarb, Strawberry and Red currant Jam:


1.25kg rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into 1/2-inch (2cm) pieces
250g strawberries
200g red currants
250ml apple juice
1.3 kg sugar
juice of one lemon
pinch of salt


1. In a large pot, mix the rhubarb, berries, and the apple juice. Cook, stirring frequently over moderate heat, until the rhubarb is cooked through and thoroughly tender. It should take about 15 minutes.

Put several saucers in the freezer.

2. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and salt, and cook, uncovered. You want to get to a rolling boil, which is beyond simmer, and spitting a bit.

To test when the jam gells, you take one of the cold saucers, put a teaspoon of jam on it, and chill in the freezer of 5 minutes. If the surface wrinkles when you nudge it with your finger, it's done. This may take longer then you expect, but be patient, the redcurrants and lemon juice will help with setting.

If you put it in the jars before it's done, it will be runny. If you cook it for too long, it will be impossible to spread. Either way, you can probably find a good use for it :-)

Once it's gelled, you need to put it in clean hot jamjars - a dishwasher cycle will work for both, or heat them in the oven. Get the lids on fast. The jam will keep for a few months- but it may not last that long....

School update

School is out for Easter break, and lots planted in the past while. Earlier this week, we finished the raspberry planting - we now have 26 autumn fruiting raspberries in.

Earlier we planted 6 blueberry bushes, and more than 12 strawberries. And 3 rhubarb plants. In the wildlife bed, we have several currant bushes, and a josterberry and 2 apple trees. (We also have some Jerusalem artichoke in there).


Today we planted ot some 4 week old peas - they were looking good - especially the ones which got the worm tea. Just in case there's frost or slug damage, I planed another pea beside them, and some onions around them.

We have 8 or 9 huge pots with spuds - they have gone home with the teachers and parents, and hopefully will return to the school in good shape.

There will be a feast - or multiple - at some point in the near future...

Learning never tasted so good

If you didn't catch the slot on New2Day on RTE 2, or at the end of the SixOne news, here's the link to the video archive.

Fruit in the garden

We have just moved to a new garden, so we need to restock. In deciding on what fruit to plant, I am guided by my own taste buds. What do I love to eat and cook with?

A good few years ago, one of my roommates declared that he loved gooseberries (I'm indifferent), so I planted one. Every year it fruited, and no one ever picked any of the fruit. I suppose that the birds were grateful, but I learned a good lesson.

So far we have bought 2 blueberry bushes. This particular variety needs an acidic soil, so we have also bought some ericaceous compost to dig in. However, in doing some research on this, it sems like coffee grounds and tea leaves may have the same effect, so I will do some experiments with that.

We have ordered 2 apple trees from Seed Savers (www.seedsavers.ie), and a Conference pear. In marked contract, we have bought a pear tree, and a cherry tree from Lidl, it will be interesting to see which does better. According to my dear husband, who was dispatched to Lidl for the fruit trees, there was practically a riot over the apple trees, which is encouraging. The more people that are growing food, the better I like it.

We have a couple of strawberries growing in a planter. I'm hoping to convince one of my friends to pass on some alpine strawberry runners. And I'd like some summer fruiting, and some autumn fruiting raspberries. That will probably be enough fruit for now. Well, maybe a blackcurrant as well, just for the pleasure of pruning it.

This probably sounds like a lot, and indeed, we now have a large garden. However, in my tiny plot in Dublin, I had an apple tree, a pear tree, loganberries, raspberries, a red and a black currant bush. So don't be discouraged by lack of space. And in a lot of ways, fruit bushes require a lot less care than vegetables.