Woodfield Weekly

 

Plenty of green veg now, including spinach from Simon Steele’s little farm in Littleport, and several different varieties of Norfolk lettuce. We also have a good deal of new season English asparagus and rhubarb around; so we have included some recipes for them on this week’s sheet. We are moving out of the blood orange season, so this week’s variety is Italian ovali. The apples are topaz, and the pears are packams.  

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Asparagus and Vegetable stir fry

 

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

250g British asparagus cut into two inch pieces
100g baby corn cut in half lengthways
100g mange tout cut in half lengthways
1 red pepper cut into strips
1 chopped red chilli
2 garlic cloves
1 inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
1tbsp of ketjap manis (sweet Thai soy sauce) or light soy sauce if unavailable
2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp roughly copped
Thai holy basil leaves (or ordinary basil if unavailable)
3 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

If desired, blanch the asparagus, corn and mange tout in boiling water for 2 minutes, refresh with cold water and drain.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan and stir fry the red pepper, chilli, garlic and ginger. Add the ketjap manis or soy sauce and stir through.

Add the asparagus, corn and mange tout and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Finally, add the coriander and basil, stir and serve at once with jasmine rice or noodles.

Asparagus with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing

 

Steam asparagus until tender, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze, top with parmesan shavings and enjoy.

Rhubarb crumble cake

By Jill Dupleix

A moist almond torte topped with a layer of cooked rhubarb and an irresistible crumble topping, this is equally at home after a weekend lunch or a weeknight dinner.

Feeds 6. Takes 1½ hours.

400g rhubarb stalks
3tbsp soft brown sugar or caster sugar
2tbsp orange juice
170g butter, softened
150g ground almonds
170g caster sugar
170g self-raising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
½tsp ground mixed spice
2 eggs

FOR CRUMBLE TOPPING
100g plain flour
75g soft brown sugar
75g butter, diced
1tsp cinnamon powder
Pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Wash the stalks well, trim the ends and discard any leaves. Chop the stalks into 2cm lengths and simmer with the sugar and orange juice in a covered pan for five minutes or until soft. Stir well and set aside.

Lightly butter a 23cm (9in) springform cake tin. Place the butter, ground almonds, sugar, flour, cinnamon, mixed spice and eggs in a food processor and whizz until thick and creamy. Spread the mixture over the base of the cake tin. Drain off the rhubarb juices and gently spread the rhubarb over the top.

To make the crumble topping, mix together the flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt with your fingertips until it resembles coarse sand, then cover the rhubarb with the mixture.

Set the tin on a baking sheet and bake on a rack set just below the centre of the oven for one hour. If, after 30 minutes, the sides and top appear to be browning too quickly, wrap some folded silver foil loosely around the tin, and cover with a loose sheet of foil.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm as a dessert, with cream or ice-cream, or allow to cool and serve as a cake.