Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Riverford is such a great scheme.  We order a "box" and get to be surprised with fruits and veggies we would never really think to buy.  This week's super fun veggie (or is it a fruit?) was rhubarb.  I was pumped.  My great grandpa used to make a mean strawberry rhubarb pie, so I decided it would be great to reproduce it here and blog about it.  After much investigative work (two emails), it has been concluded that Papa's rhubarb pie recipe died when he did (at the ripe old age of 100!), and it is no longer to be found.  Or else my mom and aunt are just too busy to go hunting for these things and it will turn up somewhere one day... fingers crossed!

Until then, I needed a substitute, and I found one, over at Dessert for Breakfast.  I was totally blown away with her photos and thought, man if this girl is half as good at cooking as she is at food photography this recipe is not going to disappoint.... (seriously, go check out her pictures for some mouth watering food porno).

And woo hoo it sure didn't!  The crumble was sweet, but with just enough salt to contrast the sweetness of the fruit, and a bit of orange zest for extra complexity.

I called Nick on his way home from work (he had a very big, important day yesterday thats why I made this for him, really I swear... ) and I asked him to pick up some vanilla ice cream at the corner store where he gets off the bus... They were out of vanilla, so he got strawberry.  Works for me!!

This is seriously SO good.  I'm not going to post the recipe, because I followed it spot on and you can see it here.

Oh and that ice cream?  I am a little afraid to say this, but my dear Cincinnatians, it beats Graeters... It's from a Sheffield company called Our Cow Molly, and I have never tasted ice cream so delicious.  Apparently they make it with milk and cream from their own cows right on the farm.  Nick and I are planning to go there soon, so I'll keep you posted.  Until then, I will be hiding from my fellow Cincinnatians for saying such blaspheming things against Graeters....

Purple Broccoli with Orange Ginger Dressing

Look at this pretty purple broccoli we got from Riverford last week.  I've never even seen purple broccoli before so I really had no idea what to do with it.  But I wanted something light and springy for dinner tonight so I whipped up an orange ginger dressing for the broccoli and served it over cous cous. 

I used two big handfuls of purple sprouting broccoli, threw them into a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes, and plunged them into ice water to stop them from cooking.  

Ingredients for Orange Ginger Dressing

• Freshly squeezed juice from two oranges
• Zest from 1 orange
• 1 shallot
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together.  

I made some couscous, cooking it with apple juice instead of water to make it extra fruity and flavorful. 

Put the broccoli on top of the couscous and then pour the dressing over the dish.

This dish felt totally fresh and clean and healthy.  The orange was the overwhelming flavor, but the ginger added a little something extra.  The only disappointing thing about this was the broccoli lost its vibrant purple color when it was cooked.