Apple & Mincemeat Crumble - MS Word document for downloading

I began to sort out the freezer at the weekend. With half - term coming up, I needed to make room for some Christmas dishes. I found two small containers of mincemeat left over from last Christmas. I had completely forgotten they were there! I decided I’d make an Apple and Mincemeat Crumble on Monday evening. It could cook while the Spicy Chicken casserole was re-heating. Preparing the apple wouldn’t take more than a few moments and I already had the crumble mix ready made in the fridge,(from the extra quantity I’d made when making the Apple and Blackberry Crumble).

After the day I had yesterday, I was so grateful for such a quickly prepared meal. It was cold and drizzling as I arrived home, so a Crumble seemed like real comfort food. The meal smelt wonderful as it cooked. As I was really tired, it did seem an effort to prepare the veg, so I opened a can of sweet corn . While that was heating, I made the custard in the microwave. It was a really delicious meal, with minimum effort on my part. (By the way, the sauce from the Spicy Chicken is good with pork and lamb, as well). Read more »

Banana Custard - MS Word document for downloading

My husband loves this dessert! Banana custard is so quick and easy to make, especially if you make the sauce in the microwave. Raspberry, strawberry and black currant jam are the ones we prefer in the bottom of the dish, but why not experiment?

Serves 2 - so you might want to double the quantity

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Cooking time: about 8 minutes, in a 750w microwave (cooking times will vary for a higher or lower wattage microwave)

Custard forms a skin very quickly when cooling. In “proper” (i.e. staged) food photography, they usually use yellow paint for custard, as it looks smooth and glossy! “Proper” food photographs would also have used a lit cigarette behind the dish to give the appearance of steam. Read more »

Apple and Blackberry Crumble - MS Word document for downloading

I really enjoy Apple and Blackberry Crumble pudding and find the mix of flavours absolutely delicious. You can use any fruits. I’d much rather eat strawberries, raspberries, peaches etc as fresh fruits and use rhubarb, cooking apples and some plums and damsons etc in crumbles.

A while ago, after a cookery class where we had made Apple Crumble, we were discussing the variations you might make to this dish. I mentioned that I really enjoyed Apple and Blackberry Crumble. There were looks of pure horror. One pupil commented, “Miss, you really do eat some strange stuff!” I was astonished. To my mind, little could be more English than picking and eating blackberries. These children live on the edge of a very small town, yet no-one in the group had ever tried blackberries and they were very unwilling to try them!

With a food processor, it’s very easy to double or treble the quantities of this crumble recipe. If you prepare extra fruit, you can make a number of crumbles at the same time, cooking one for the meal and freezing the rest of them uncooked. The foil dishes and lids sold in supermarkets are very useful for this purpose. The crumble topping on its own can be stored in the fridge for about six weeks, or in the freezer for about six months.

The quantity of crumble mix and fruit below serves about 6 people.

Assuming you are using a food processor, the crumble mix will take a couple of minutes to make.

Preparing the fruit could take 10 minutes, or so.

Cooking time: depends on the size of dish, but approx 30-40 minutes at 190C or Gas Mark 5.
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Dried Fruit Salad - MS Word document for downloading

Serves 4 - 6

I think dried pears are full of flavour and I love them in a dried fruit salad. You can buy packets of dried fruit salad mix, or make up your own. Check for preservative - I prefer to buy the mix without any sulphite, from the Health Food Store. I usually cook this, covered, in the oven, along with the main meal for that evening, or, if I’m really organised, for the following day, making good use of the oven heat.

Preparation time: 5 minutes the night before you want to eat it. Read more »