Rhubarb Bellinis

We have a couple of Jamie Oliver's themed cookbooks (Italy, USA), and although the recipes are good they are not always that well suited to spontaneous cooking. Jamie at Home is much better, and we've used it more frequently.

One of our favourite spring treats is his rhubarb bellini -- very quick, and ridiculously tasty. No need to splurge on the bubbles, either: cheap prosecco or cava both work well.

Ingredients:

Rhubarb
Sugar
Bubbly

More from the man himself, or one of his minions, here.

Rhubarb Freezer Jam

Between our garden, the patch in Bethlehem and my folks, we ended up with a ton of rhubarb. Since canning isn't our thing, I searched for rhubarb freezer jam recipes. The only one I found which didn't call for strawberry jello (to make it sweeter and give it a nice color, two things we think are totally unnecessary for rhubarb) was here: http://www.untrainedhousewife.com/quick-and-easy-rhubarb-freezer-jam-recipe

The first comment called the jam a bit sweet so we reduced the sugar to 8 cups. We let is sit in sugar during the work day (on the counter) and cooked it in the evening. It took about three hours until the consistency seemed acceptable. We let it cool overnight and filled it into seven pint jars (with about 1 inch head space) the following evening. The taste from our taste test seems great - perfectly tart - and the color is a bit redder than we are used to. We'll have to give an update on the flavor and the freezing process when we thaw our first jar.

Already though we are considering two modifications. Use pectin (to thicken faster and thicker) and jar immediately and cool in jars rather than in the pot (to cool faster and make it easier to jar).

Seven Layer Dip

For the Elton John and Billy Joel Tailgate, we brought seven layer dip. The seven layers were:
refried beans
avocado and lime juice
sour cream and taco seasoning
canned chili peppers
olives
tomatoes
shredded cheese

Source: Joy of Cooking

Comments: Delicious although a little rough on tortilla chips so we ended up using a spoon to scoop the dip onto chips. Joy recommends eating it warm. That wasn't feasible for the tailgate but would definitely be worth trying a later date.

Pork with Apricots

Gareth served pork with apricots alongside mashed potatoes and salad containing lots of veggies from our spring garden!

Ingredients:

pork chops

apricots

vinegar

potatoes

salad

Source: Clatter of Forks and Spoons

Comments: Pork stayed very moist with a nice variety (sweet and sour) of flavors. A rare simple recipe in a challenging cookbook.

Crepes! Version II

This was our second attempt at crepes. We used the same recipe for the crepes themselves, but went for a slightly different filling this time.

Ingredients:

bacon

broiled slices of potato

shredded cheese

chives

Source: Crepes

Comments: Delish and probably a tad more interesting than our previous attempt at crepes.

Crepes!

During our trip to Paris, we bought Gareth a crepe cookbook! Here is his first attempt. They were not half bad....just kidding, they were great!!

This recipe included:

tomatoes

cooked spinach

shredded cheese

Chicken Braised with Chicory & Creme Fraiche

groundnut oil

butter
chicken breasts (with or without skin)
heads of chicory (or Belgian endive)
brown sugar
shallots or spring onions (we used shallots)
lemon juice
medium-dry white wine
crème fraîche (we used sour cream)
sprigs of parsley

Source: A Pat McF specialty, recipe via e-mail

This was an absolutely delicious dinner recipe, which tasted very rich without being bad for you. It takes a while to cook in the oven, but the hands-on prep time is actually quite brief so you're not chained to the cooker for very long. We served it with fresh spuds and sautéed curly kale.