Posh Pear and Plum Crumble

Everyone loves a crumble and I still have lots of plums to use, so I thought I'd try a more fancy restaurant style advocated by the likes of Raymond Blanc.

This recipe takes the heretical approach of cooking the crumble separately so it's more crunchy. I have to say I was outraged at the very idea, what do French chefs know about our British crumble?! I love the traditional way crumbles have that soft, gooey transition between the fruit, the juice-soaked crumble, and the crunchy top.

I was prepared to hate this deconstructed crumble, but it's actually quite nice, if not quite traditional. It's a bit like having stewed fruit with that oat-crunch cereal on top.

The fruit here is particularly special, with a richly reduced sweet wine sauce. I used Amaretto but any sweet dessert wine or red wine will also work. Another advantage of the deconstructed approach is you can make it look pretty in individual serving bowls.

Stewed fruit:

• Five large black plums, stoned and quartered
• Four pears, peeled, cored and quartered
• 1 glass of Amaretto or sweet wine
• 4 tbsp sugar (to taste)
• 1 tsp almond extract

Crumble topping:

• 100g plain white flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 25g flaked almonds
• 100g demerara sugar (or simple granulated)
• 50g butter

1. Put the fruit and wine in a large pan, and gently stew for ten minutes or so until the fruit is well cooked but the pieces retain their shape.
2. Strain the fruit, reserving the delicious liquid, and return the liquid to the pan.
3. Dissolve the 4 tbsp of sugar in the liquid, and leave it to gently simmer and reduce until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
4. Preheat the oven to 200C.
5. Make the topping by rubbing together the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl so it forms rough clumps, then mix in the ground almonds.
6. Spread the crumble onto a baking dish, sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds, and bake for about 10 minutes until it's lightly browned and crunchy.
7. Mix the reduced sauce with the cooked fruit and the almond extract, and pour into a deep serving dish.
8. When the crumble is cooked, sprinkle on top of the fruit, and enjoy with cream or custard!

Quorn and Mushroom Strudel

Believe it or not, the Viennese strudel was originally made with turnips, so they have fine tradition in savoury veggie cuisine! I fancied a pie, and with a pack of puff pastry on hand this is a variation on the ubiquitous chicken and mushroom pie. I've made a large one here for simplicity, but it's also great to make individual pies for lunches or picnics.

Serves 4

• 4 carrots, cut into sticks
• 1 onion, halved lengthways
• 300g (one bag) Quorn chunks
• 300g chestnut mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 500g puff pastry (or pre-rolled sheet)

For the white sauce:

• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vegetable stock
• 500 ml milk (or water/milk)
• seasoning

1. Toss the vegetables and Quorn in oil, and roast in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.
2. Leave to cool a little, then chop the mushrooms and vegetables into rough chunks.
3. Make the white sauce either in a microwave or saucepan. (I've covered white sauces before so I won't repeat.)
4. In a bowl, mix chopped vegetables, mushrooms and Quorn with the white sauce, and leave to cool
5. Roll out your pastry into a large rectangle, about twice as wide as long. I'd suggest making it as wide as your baking sheet, for easy oven handling.
6. Preheat your oven to 220C.
7. Spoon the filling onto one long half of your rolled pastry, leaving about an inch/2 cm gap around the edge for sealing.
8. Wet the edges of the pastry with a finger, then fold over the other side of the pastry to cover, 
9. Crimp the edge with your fingers to make a seal.
10. With a sharp knife, slash across the pastry, trying not to cut quite all the way through. This allows the pastry to expand and leave a pretty pattern on top.
11. Brush with either egg or milk, and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is risen and golden brown.

Chocolate banana bread

I swear my best recipes come about from necessity or leftovers, and this banana bread (cake, really) is my way of using up over-ripe bananas! I'm apparently unusual these days in liking bananas when they're ripe and sweet, but these ones were too black and spotty even for me, but they go great in this cake.

• 100g butter, softened or melted
• 120g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200g self raising flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 large very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
• 50g raisins
• 50 ml water (or ginger wine)
• 50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks or chocolate chips

1. Heat the raisins in a covered pan with either water or ginger wine until not quite boiling. Take off the heat and leave for an hour to sit and plump up.
2. When soaked, strain the raisins and coat them in flour so they don't sink to the bottom - I always forget this part!
3. Preheat the oven to 180C.
4. Whisk the butter and sugar together, then slowly add the eggs.
5. Stir in the flour and ginger til well mixed, then add the banana, chocolate and raisins.
6. Pour into a loaf tin and bake for about an hour, while the house fills with a gorgeous banana baking scent!
7. Use a skewer or toothpick to see if it's done - when inserted it should come out clean.
8. Leave to cool, if you can resist.

Variations

Nuts are a good addition or alternative to chocolate, I like chopped walnuts particularly.

This recipe also makes great muffins - just pour the mixture into muffin cases and cook for about 30 minutes.

Autumn Vegetable Soup

I'm much more of a winter foodie than summer, and these fresh bright autumn days make me yearn for soup for lunch! We're also getting the first of the winter vegetables like leeks, so I was going to make a leek and potato soup but I just kept throwing things in!

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large leeks, sliced and thoroughly washed
• 200 g small waxy potatoes, quartered
• 6 carrots, cut into smallish chunks
• 1 tin of white beans
• 500 ml good vegetable stock
• Handful of frozen peas
• 2 tsp dill

1. Splosh oil and a knob of butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion for a minute or two.
2. Add the leeks and sweat them on a medium heat til they've cooked down a little and intensified their flavour. Don't let them burn, burnt leeks taste nasty.
3. Add the potatoes and carrots and cover with the vegetable stock. Add more water if the vegetables aren't quite covered.
4. Cook for about 15-20 until the potatoes are done.
5. Add the beans, peas and dill, and cook for another 5 mins.
6. At the end I give it a brief whizz with a hand blender - enough to break up a few of the vegetables but leaving most of them chunky.
7. Check for seasoning and consistency. I like a thick chunky soup but add more water if it's too thick.
8. Serve in a bowl with a dollop of plain yoghurt.

Plum Frangipane Puff Pastry Tart

This was an experiment that worked very well, and I'd definitely make again. Almonds and plums go together brilliantly, and the soft frangipane and the crisp pastry are deliciously moreish!

I prefer the large round black plums, but use any kind of plum you can find this time of year. This recipe would also work with apples, apricots, peaches or anything similar.

Using pre-rolled puff pastry saves so much time, but use a block (more economical) or, if truly adventurous, make your own. You can either make one very large tart, or individual sized small ones. I tend to cut a pre-rolled sheet in half, so each half serves four. I can then save the other for gorging on at breakfast!

• 1 pack pre-rolled puff pastry sheet (or equivalent)
• 3 large black plums
• 1 tbsp apricot or plum jam, sieved (optional, for glazing)

For the frangipane:

• 100g ground almonds
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g softened butter
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Roll out your puff pastry sheet and cut into whatever sizes you prefer. For each start, fold over about 1 cm along each side to form a border - this raised edge will hold in the frangipane.
3. Prick the bottom of each tart all over with a fork, we don't want the middle rising too much.
4. Bake in the hot oven for about 8 minutes until partly risen and crisp. Take out and leave to cool a little.
5. Meanwhile make the frangipane. In a food processor, mixer, or with a strong arm, cream the butter and sugar together until pale.
6. Gradually beat in two eggs.
7. Fold in the ground almonds and almond extract leaving a smooth mixture.
8. Cut the plums into wedged slices, no more than about 0,5 cm thick.
9. Set your oven to 180C.
10. When the pastry has cooled a bit, spoon the frangipane mixture over the part-baked tarts, taking care to leave the folded edge free..
11. Arrange plum slices all over the top.
12. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the frangipane is golden on top and set inside. Smaller tarts will take less time.
13. For a final touch, heat some sieved jam with a little water, and glaze the fruits with a brush for a shiny finish. Alternatively, dust with icing sugar.
14. Enjoy warm with cream, or equally good cold.

Eggs Benedictine (Poached eggs with spinach sauce)

I love a slow relaxing brunch on a Sunday, and when my sister's visiting I always have to cook some kind of eggs!

This is my variation of Eggs Benedict, or Eggs Florentine, which I'm calling Eggs Benedictine since it's poached eggs with a spinach white sauce. "Going to the bother of making a white sauce on a Sunday morning, are you mad?!", I hear you saying? Don't worry, this is my quick and easy white sauce, which only takes 3 minutes in the microwave!

Serves two

• 4 blocks of frozen spinach, defrosted
• 4 eggs (two each)
• Four slices of brown or rye bread

For the white sauce:

• 2 tsp plain flour
• 2 tsp butter
• 400 ml milk (or milk and water mixed)
• salt and pepper to taste
• (optional) grated cheese

1. Put the butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave, about 30 seconds
2. Add the plain flour and mix into the butter until smooth.
3. Gradually add the milk, smoothing out lumps as you go. Once you've added 100 ml or so it should be fine to just add the rest.
4. Zap in the microwave for 1 minute, stir vigorously, then zap for another minute. It should be done! If not cook for another minute. The sauce should be thick like custard.
5. Add grated cheese to taste, if using, then stir in the spinach. Taste it for seasoning.

Poach the eggs however you prefer, this is my easy method with no whirling nonsense. Make sure you use fresh eggs, older eggs tend to dissolve into soup:

1. Fill a sauté pan, or high-sided frying pan, with boiling water from the kettle until it's about 1.5 inches/3 cm deep. Add a sprinkling of salt and put on a low heat. The water should be steaming, but completely still.
2. Gently crack an egg into the water, easing into the water carefully. Repeat for the rest.
3. Turn up the heat slightly and leave the eggs to cook in their bath for about 4-5 mins until the white is set but the yolk still runny.

To assemble:

1. Toast the bread, and pop two slices each on the plate.
2. Pour sauce onto the toast, roughly two tablespoons each slice.
3. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon - I also blot them a bit with kitchen paper.
4. Place one egg on each slice, and top with cracked pepper. 
5. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea and the Sunday papers!