Creamy parsnip, leek and white bean crumble

From Anna Jones in The Guardian.

Ingredients

  • 750g leeks (about 6)
  • 4 parsnips: 2 peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks, 2 coarsely grated
  • 2 tbspn olive oil
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • Salt and pepper
  • 200ml creme fraiche
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
  • Zest of one lemon
  • 1 tspn cider vinegar
  • 75ml vegetable stock
  • 1 x 400g tin white haricot beans

For the crumble:

  • 50g jumbo rolled oats
  • 30g cold butter, cut in cubes
  • 45g plain flour
  • 20g pumpkin seeds
  • 20g Parmesan cheese

Method

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/350F/gas 6. Toss the leeks and chopped parsnips with the olive oil in a 20 x 30 pie dish or a deep roasting tin. Sprinkle over the leaves from two of the thyme sprigs, and season well. Roast for 35 minutes, until the leeks are soft and buttery, and the parsnips are soft all the way through.

Mix all but 50g of the grated parsnips in a bowl with the creme fraiche, chopped garlic, lemon, cider vinegar, stock and haricot beans. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed.

In a separate bowl, make the crumble topping. Using your fingertips, rub the oats, butter, flour and pumpkin seeds together with the remaining grated parsnip and thyme leaves so that it starts to clump and look like chunky breadcrumbs. Chill in the fridge until needed.

When the leeks and parsnips have softened, remove from the oven and toss through the bean and creme fraiche mix.

Remove the crumble topping from the fridge, sprinkle it over the filling, grate over the cheese and return to the oven for 30 minutes.

You can assemble the crumble, cover and chill in the fridge up to 24 hours in advance before the final bake. Serve with warm, crusty bread and lemon-dressed salad or greens.

Parsnip and ginger cake

Originally from The National Trust, Spring 2023

Ingredients

  • For the cake:
    • 250g butter
    • 300g caster sugar
    • 150g golden syrup
    • 250g self-raising flour (or gluten-free flour)
    • 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
    • 1.5 tspn ground ginger
    • 100g ground almonds
    • 250g peeled parsnips, finely grated
    • 4 medium eggs
  • For the topping:
    • 40g stem ginger, finely chopped, plus 1 tbspn syrup
    • 65g butter, softened
    • 35g icing sugar, sifted
    • 3/4 tspn ground ginger
    • 125g full-fat cream cheese at room temperature

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan/gas mark 4). Line a 23cm/9″ springform tin with baking paper, using double for the sides.
  2. Stir the butter, sugar and syrup gently in a pan over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool.
  3. Put the flour, bicarb of soda, ground ginger, and ground almonds into a bowl. Mix in the grated parsnip and stir well.
  4. Whisk the eggs into the syrup mixture then tip into the parsnip mixture and stir well.
  5. Pour the mixture into the lined tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.
  6. Beat the butter, icing sugar and ground ginger well until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and ginger syrup and mix. Gently stir in half of the chopped stem ginger.
  7. Spread the topping on the the cooled cake and scatter over the remaining stem ginger.

Plum Crumble

Adapted from Delia Smith Complete Cookery Course. This is an easy recipe, well suited to do with kids, who will love crushing the crumble mix into the bowl.

There is nothing unique about this crumble recipe, besides celebrating the abundance and variety of plums we enjoy at the farm. It is near impossible to shop the range of cultivars that our orchards provide. So don’t settle for one type of boring supermarket plum, go ahead and mix as many ripe and fresh summer flavours, textures and sizes as you can fit in the crumble:

In ours, we cooked an assortment of cherry-sized Mirabelle, sweet Victoria,  Greengages for a touch of acidity, and Purple Pershore to add texture. We cut, opened and stoned all but the Mirabelles because taking the stones out wasted far too much flesh. So we left them in and played “tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor…” counting the pips as we fished them out while we ate the pudding.

The crumble is failsafe to bake if you follow the quantities, and for custard we cheated and bought shop made 🙂

Ingredients

  • For the fruit filling
    • 2 lb or about 900 grs of plums. Allow a bit more for weight if you don’t stone them
    • 4 to 6 oz (110-175 gr) of demerara sugar
    • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • For the Crumble
    • 8 0z (225gr) of plain or wholewheat flour
    • 3 oz of butter (75gr) at room temperature
    • 3-4oz (75-110gr) of soft brown sugar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan/gas mark 4).
  2. In a mixing bowl, add the flour and the butter and rub them together gently with your fingers. (Ideal for kids!). When it takes a crumbly texture and the fat has mixed with the flour evenly, add the sugar and combine with the rest.
  3. Wash the plums and put them in a deep pie dish. Sprinkle them with the sugar and cinnamon and mix.
  4. Cover the fruit with the crumble mixture and bake it for 30 to 40 minutes until the top has lightly browned.
  5. Serve warm with the contrast of cold neutral-flavour icecream, or a dollop of custard.