A pudding to make my diet crumble: Apple and elderflower crumble

Crumbles really are smile inducing things. There isn't a much finer pud than hot fruit waiting to be discovered through a thick layer of sugary, ever so slightly salty, buttery rubble. When I was a kid, the measure of a good crumble was whether it was one of those types that 'stuck to your ribs', that is, it had that right balance of sharp fruit but the crumble was gooey as it had part collapsed into the lovely liquor given off from the apples, or the rhubarb (particularly rib sticking) or whatever fruity sidekick you had chosen. A good crumble should have a pleasing soporific effect, as once it sticks to your ribs and leaves you smiley, you then feel the need for a bit of a doze, post lunch, in a crumble daze. And they are easy to make, great for using up dodgy looking fruit... in fact, I am failing to find the negative here.

The crumbles of my youth were either apple or rhubarb, the latter, oozing a greeny and pinky hue from under a delicious golden rubble. Apple ones were just as delicious, mostly, but were generally lighter in texture, and that's no bad thing. But if you didn't know your apples, you might end up with a pale green pulp redolent of apple sauce which wasn't quite the effect desired. That is why, in my opinion, you shouldn't let a Bramley apple near a crumble - A personal view admittedly. I like chunk, sweet appley chunk, with a waft of cinnamon in the vicinity.

I decided to add a splosh of elderflower cordial to the mix for two reasons. One: apple and elderflower is delicious, and two: It was in the cupboard and I often like to add it to sparkling water. Whilst the finished dish will not have you thinking 'Wow! Elderflower!' I do think it adds a hint of something quite pleasant.

The crumble recipe I give here is very approximate. Indeed, I recommend you don't follow it because you will have your own idea about how you like your crumble. And the recipe I use changes every time. Basically, I am looking for something that looks like biscuits that have been bashed with a rolling pin, which when you taste it raw, should be rubbly, sweet, salty, 'buttery' and these days nutty. And you need plenty of it: Now is not the time for restraint when it comes to making a crumble. I want some of the underside to dissolve into the fruity soup below, to give that rib sticking effect, and I want the top to caramelise nicely as the butter and sugar mingle and melt. I would also be extremely disappointed if some of the molten fruit did not seep up through the edges of the rubble, creating pools of dense fruitiness here and there.

Yes, I'm smiling.

Apple and elderflower crumble

Serves 4, plus Lola and Finn.

Ingredients:

Six to eight firm, sweet eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges

1 tbsp lemon juice

25g butter

50g sugar, added to taste. You may need slightly more or slightly less, and for that you need to taste the mixture

50ml elderflower cordial

1 tsp cinnamon

For the crumble: You may need to vary the quantities and my advice is taste a little of the crumble.

150g plain flour or maybe wholemeal if you fancy

150g butter

a pinch of salt

a handful of walnuts, finely chopped or blitzed. (Or other nuts of your choosing)

1 tsp cinnamon

50g sugar - could be white, demerara, soft brown.

Method

Peel, core and quarter the apples and coat them in the lemon juice in a bowl to stop them browning.

Melt the butter over a gentle heat in a frying pan.

Add the apples. Coat them in the melted butter mixture and leave to soften on a gentle heat for a few minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent them from sticking and browning.

Add some of the sugar, the elderflower cordial and the cinnamon. Stir to combine and leave to blip away for a few minutes. Taste the liquid. You might feel it needs more sugar.

Pierce the apple slices with a sharp knife. They should be cooked or almost cooked. Transfer the apple mixture to a suitable dish.

For the crumble, combine the butter and the flour and either rub between your fingertips to combine or else whizz in a food processor. Add the sugar, salt and cinnamon and walnuts. Mix to combine.

When you are happy with the crumble mixture, top the fruit with it. I like to have about half an inch of crumble mix on top. If there is any crumble mixture over I tend to put it in a container in the fridge and make another crumble soon.

Place in the oven, on a baking tray to avoid any oven cleaning later on, at 180c for about 30 - 40 mins, or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up the sides. Remove to oven and allow to rest for about 5 - 10 minutes as it will be very hot.

Serve with vanilla ice cream maybe, or cream maybe, or custard, definitely...and prepare to smile.

Making pizza with Lola and Finn - Homemade pizza

Lola and Finn love the whole pizza thing. And whilst I admit to a weakness for a Domino's Vegetarian Deluxe (seriously!), I do like us to make our own. And so do Lola and Finn. There not massively interested in the whole pizza dough making rigmarole, (except when I have forgotten to retrieve it from the mantelpiece above the fire and it looks like it is starting to escape - then it's exciting!) when it comes to toppings then Lola and Finn are right in the zone, picking their salami, their ham... How much mozzarella is too much? More tomato sauce please! ...and on it goes.

I know this is a way of trying to get vegetables into kids, but with Lola and Finn it fails, with their pizzas being cheese laden meaty affairs, so I make a tomato sauce and try to hide the vegetables that way, if I have a mind to.

The pizza dough recipe is Gino D'Acampo's, from his 'I' 'The Italian Diet' (shame I don't follow that recipe as closely as maybe I should...) and the tomato sauce is my creation. The quantity here makes four nicely filling pizzas, and any leftover tomato sauce usually makes an appearance later in the week a top of a pile of fusilli pasta.

The toppings I list here are not exhaustive; they are merely suggestions based on what we have used in the past. This is all about creativity so go where your pizza craving takes you.

Homemade Pizza

Makes 4 generous size individual pizzas

Ingredients

For the dough:

1/2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons dried yeast

280ml warm water

360g strong plain flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing

Tomato sauce:

A glug of olive oil

One onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

Two tins of tomatoes (I use tinned cherry tomatoes)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

1 tablespoon basil pesto (very optional!)

salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:

Mozzarella

Grated cheese

Ham

Salami

Chorizo

Cooked chicken

Pineapple

Diced peppers

Sliced tomatoes

Olives

Basil leaves.... and so on.....

First, prepare the pizza dough. Mix the salt and yeast together in a jug with the water. Sift the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the water mixture, along with the olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything well to create a wet dough or just put the dry ingredients together and then add the liquids and knead using the dough hook on a mixer, which is what I do. If you are working by hand, turn out the dough onto a clean well-floured surface and work it with your hands for about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Place in a greased bowl and cover with a tea-towel or greased cling film. Leave in a warm place to rest for at least 30 minutes until the dough nearly doubles in size. I tend to leave it as long as it takes me to make the tomato sauce.

To make the tomato sauce. In a big enough frying pan, put a glug of oil over s medium heat and fry the onion until translucent but not coloured, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

Then add the tinned tomatoes and the oregano. Press the tomatoes to squash them if necessary.

Allow the tomatoes to cook down until the sauce visibly thickens. Stir the mixture occasionally to prevent it sticking. When you're happy with the consistency, taste and add salt and pepper as required. Put into a bowl to allow it to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 220c, Gas 7.

Knock the dough back and knead a little. Cut into four equal size pieces and try(!) to form each piece into a pizza base - something I am yet to manage with massive success.

Put each base onto an oiled baking sheet and then allow the topping to commence!

One the pizzas are topped, place into the hot oven for about 10 - 15 minutes. Obviously the thicker the dough and the more 'adventurous' the topping may require more cooking. I tell Lola and Finn that their pizza will be soggy if they pile it too high, and indeed the best pizzas are the ones that are more modestly topped (like mine!)

Once cooked, cut into quarters and serve. I like a lightly dressed salad with my pizza but no-one else does. They just pick them up and tuck in!