Rhubarb and gnger tart with rhubarb and ginger sorbet

It was going to be gooseberry as they're supposed to be in season, but they weren't in the shops I use.  The rhubarb looked good though and rhubarb and ginger works well so...

Ingredients

• 500g of rhubarb, sliced
• 250ml of ginger beer
• 100g of caster sugar
• 100g of liquid glucose
• 3g ice cream stabiliser (optional)
• 1 pack short crust pastry (or make your own)
• 100g of gooseberries
• 30g of caster sugar
• 225ml of double cream
• 12g of root ginger
• 105g of caster sugar
• 5 eggs

Method
Make the sorbet by placing the rhubarb in a saucepan with the ginger beer, sugar and glucose. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Blend the mixture in a blender until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve and allow to cool.  Add the ice cream stabiliser if using being careful to make sure it mixes well with no lumps.  Churn the sorbet mixture in an ice cream maker. When it is ready, transfer the sorbet to a freezer proof container and freeze until ready to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Unroll the pastry and line a 20cm tart tin.  Cover with greaseproof paper and add baking beans, then blind bake for 10-12 minutes until the pastry starts to brown, then leave to cool

To make the gooseberry custard tart mix, first place the rhubarb on a baking tray, sprinkle over 30g of the sugar and cook in the oven for 20 minutes until just tender.

To make the custard, combine the double cream and sliced ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Separate the yolk from 1 of the 5 remaining eggs and whisk the eggs and the remaining sugar until light and fluffy, then pour the hot cream over the eggs and whisk again.

Carefully pour the custard tart mixture into the pre-cooked tart case. Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the filling is firm in the centre and the top is golden brown.  Top each tart with the baked rhubarb and serve with a quenelle of the sorbet.

Wild Boar ragu with pappardelle

So, I got a slow cooker for Christmas and also bought some wild boar.  As wild boar has to be cooked long and slow to get the flavour and make sure it's not too tough, it should be a marriage made in heaven, yes?  Indeed, it turned out to be exactly that!  You can of course cook it in the oven or on the hob in the same way, but here is my slow cooker version.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 small carrots, peeled and diced

3 sticks celery, peeled and diced

1 large onion, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

A few springs of thyme

2 large tomatoes, diced

500g wild boar, diced

175ml red wine

500ml chicken stock

400g chopped Italian tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Dried Pappardelle pasta to taste 

Method
First, make the soffritto by heating the oil in a medium frying pan and then adding the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in that order.  I tend to prep the veg while cooking as the carrots ad celery require more time to cook than the onions and garlic, so cooking the carrots while peeling and dicing the celery etc. works out perfectly.

Once the soffritto is cooking, add the diced wild boar and brown on a high heat.  Add the red wine, then reduce to half the volume.  Add the Chicken stock and reduce to 2/3 volume, still on a high heat.  Finally add the tomatoes, bay leaf and thyme and season to taste.  Put this in the slow cooker and cook for 5 hours on a low heat, skimming every 2 hours to remove the fat that comes to the surface.

Prepare the pappardelle as per the instructions (you can make your own pasta, but I find the dried tastes just a good!), then serve a couple of spoons of the ragu over the top of the pasta.  If you wish you can add cheese, but as this is a rich dish I prefer it in small quantities without adornment.  Whatever is left over can be frozen for a quick supper.

I hope you enjoy it :)