Rhubarb Mousse

Rhubarb is a peculiar thing - peculiarly English too. You just don't see it used much in other countries and I have struggled to explain what rhubarb jam is to non-native customers at my stalls over the years.

I have always regarded it as a cheap food too - something so easy to grow that you can plant it once and just let it get on with its own thing from then on. Certainly I imagine that everyone who was "Digging For Victory" back in the day must have had some on their plot. 

Having never felt the need to buy rhubarb before I really couldn't have told you how much it would cost but this week, out of curiousity, I looked it up on both the Tesco and Ocado supermarket sites and found that it was £6.88 per kilogram on that particular day. Having already harvested 3kg of rhubarb this year, I realised that would have set me back about £21! Astonishing, especially as there is still time to pick some more this season.

So, was I wrong all along to think of rhubarb as a cheap food? Well, with fresh raspberries coming in at roughly £12 per kilogram, it certainly doesn't compete with those price-wise. But then again, rhubarb isn't as squishy and hard to transport as raspberries so maybe that isn't a fair comparison. What about the other stems that we eat? 

Celery comes in at roughly £3 per kilogram so in comparison, rhubarb is something of a luxury food! And, remarkably, on the day I was checking prices, asparagus was being sold for £6.59 per kilogram. So, like for like, asparagus and rhubarb are the same price. And yet I would have considered asparagus to be... a bit posh!

Having discovered that I should be showing more respect to my rhubarb, I decided that I needed to elevate it further than the humble crumble. As such, I combined it with some double cream and some fancy ruby chocolate to create Rhubarb and Ruby Chocolate Mousse, and scattered some homemade granola on top as a nod to rhubarb crumble. There you go, rhubarb, the fancy dessert you deserve!

Rhubarb and Ruby Chocolate Mousse (makes 6)

150g rhubarb
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp water
2 gelatine leaves
150g natural yoghurt
200g ruby chocolate (use white chocolate if your prefer)
300ml double cream
Granola or similar to scatter

Cut the rhubarb into pieces and place in a small pan with the sugar and water. Cook gently with the lid on for several minutes until very soft. Leave to cool then use a stick blender to puree. Next, cover the gelatine with water for a few minutes to soften. Put the chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of hot water to melt. Next, squeeze the water out of the gelatine then put it in small pan over a low heat until melted. Add a little of the cream to the gelatine and heat gently to incorporate the two as this will make the gelatine easier to pour. Whisk the remaining double cream in a large bowl until thick. Add all the ingredients to the cream (apart from the granola) and gently fold together until mixed. Spoon into suitable containers/glasses and put in the fridge to set. When ready to serve, scatter the granola on top if using.

Potato Bread

Sometimes we make too much mashed potato to go with our sausages. There are, of course, plenty of things you could do with leftover mashed potatoes, including making bubble and squeak or fashioning it into potato cakes. One of my favourites is to use it as an excuse to make mashed potato doughnuts (as previously blogged). However, when my husband makes mash potato, he tends to season it quite heavily, including adding celery salt and garlic powder and these residue flavours aren't really what you want in your freshly fried doughnuts!

So, having gathered a small box of mashed potatoes from the dinner plates last night, today I decided the best use to put it to would be in a loaf of bread. I usually make bread on a Thursday anyway as Friday is the only day of the week where my daughter has lessons in the afternoon and can't come home from sixth form at lunch time, thus she is in need of bread fresh enough to take as a sandwich.

Once the bread is cooked, you would scarcely notice that it has potato in it. I find it tends to rise enthusiatically and it has a lovely soft texture and I guess that has something to do with the starches from the potato. It is a very satisfying way to make use of waste food.

Potato Bread

225g water
3 tbsp sunflower oil
425g white bread flour
75g malted bread flour (or use a total of 500g white flour if preferred)
175g cold cooked mashed potato
1 1/2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1 tsp salt (add an extra half a teaspoon if there isn't salt in your mashed potato)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp easy blend yeast

Load the ingredients into your bread machine and set to dough. Alternatively, mix by hand and knead for 10 minutes or use a dough hook on a food processory. Leave to prove for one hour. Knock back and shape dough to fit into a 2lb loaf tin then cover with greased Clingfilm and leave to prove for half an hour. Preheat oven to 190°C. Slash the top of the bread with a knife several times then put the tin in the oven. Through some water into the bottom of the oven to create steam and shut the oven door. Cook for 45 minutes until golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped. Leave to cool on a wire rack.