Rhubarb Royale
Pink and swirly
Greetings!
It’s beginning to feel quite Springy, which means I’ll start getting fanatical about Easter soon. But we’re not quite there, I’m still manically candying citrus. I do think it is a slight hoarding issue, I feel desperately compelled to store all the citrus I possibly can while I can, I don’t seem to have a limit!
I had 2 fabulous ice creams last week both with citrus and ricotta. The first from my absolute favourite La Grotta Ices, a ricotta, kumquat and chocolate chip ice cream which was phenomenal, I ate the whole tub so quickly and then had to buy another one! Then last Monday when it was glorious sunshine I found myself having a delightful lunch at the Garden Museum Cafe, which has exquisite desserts and cakes from Rose Gabbertas.
Rose and I did a bake sale together for the Arnold Circus Plant Sale back in Autumn. She was after a full time pastry position, as she got a sadly short stint at Lyles. I knew Alex (Jackson) who was leaving Leila’s was after a pastry chef so sent her in that direction and it seems to have worked out pretty well. Rose had made this divine ricotta, pistachio and candied Buddha’s hand ice cream which was perfectly balanced and soooo up my street.
We get beautiful Long Lane ricotta at Leila’s so I bought some to take home and combine with citrus. Sadly my freezer is full of berries (my fruit obsession again) so ice cream was not an option but I made a ricotta cheesecake with bergamot which was delish. It was my “not cheesecake” recipe with half ricotta to yoghurt and a bergamot jelly layer set on top. Although after going on and on about ricotta it’s actually got nothing to do with my recipe this week I just felt compelled to tell you about it!
This week we are in the throes of forced rhubarb. At Leila’s we get amazing rhubarb from Cooks, a couple of years ago Leila and I had the pleasure of visiting the farm, we went up for the day, it was very easy on the train to Wakefield. We were welcomed with ham baps and strong cups of Yorkshire tea and then plunged into the darkness of the rhubarb sheds!
Forced rhubarb in some ways is quite sad as they are desperately shooting up to find sunlight, being grown in the dark means they stay super pink and have a sweeter flavour than the greener garden rhubarb we get later in the year. So you walk into these very dark sheds and once you throw some light on the scenery it feels almost like an alien landscape with endless rows of pink popping clusters. They start off growing outside, then each year the crowns which are heavy clumps of soil, are transferred into the sheds, which are pitch black and temperature regulated. It’s extremely manual work, Jason has restarted the business as the sheds were there from when his Grandfather grew rhubarb. It’s a real labour of love and so it makes sense that there are a lot fewer rhubarb farms in the Yorkshire rhubarb triangle than there used to be. I’ve been jamming lots for birthday cakes and a big wedding cake I have booked in for April, with an abundance of fresh jam I decided to make a Charlotte Royale, how good does that sound.
We’ve looked at Charlotte’s before with mango, so what makes it Royale? Rather than the ladyfinger outside, this dessert is dome shaped. You line a bowl with slices of Swiss roll, so when it’s unmoulded you get a slightly brain looking but very striking dessert. I made 2 large apple and blackberry ones for a birthday event at Leila’s a while back. My friend Ed gave me the idea, always being a fountain of knowledge on vintage puds. A rhubarb royale felt like a must!
