RHUBARB AND CUSTARD POTS WITH LAVENDER BISCUITS	FOOD & COOKING ARTICLE

BRINGING PUDDINGS TO LIFE - Rhubarb and Custard Pots with Lavender Biscuits
by Chef Phil Vickery

Celebrity chef Phil Vickery cooks up a pudding storm

Everyone has their favourite pudding but not everyone knows how to make them! However, help is here in the form of Celebrity Chef Phil Vickery. Phil is here to give easy step-by-step instructions to create twelve fantastic puddings, one pudcast a month. This month’s recipe, Rhubarb and Custard Pots with Lavender Biscuits, is a delicious finale for any Easter feast. "Carnation Condensed Milk Light has all natural ingredients, no preservatives and no added flavours, and is perfect for making a soft, creamy frosting on cupcakes" says Phil Vickery.

Everybody loves a good pud! From homemade apple pie to granny's spotted dick or mum's treacle tart, everyone's a winner. But how often do you make home-made puds and do you really know where to start?

Although more and more people are experimenting in the kitchen with puddings, one in five Brits have never attempted a home-made pudding, according to new research by Carnation. So what's stopping Brits from getting their hands dirty in the kitchen? Perhaps, if you had a top chef in the kitchen with you, you'd be more inclined to whip up a nice pudding. Well now you can!

Celebrity chef Phil Vickery is here to save the day. Over the coming months he will be welcoming us in to his kitchen to take us through the simple steps to create twelve fantastic puddings. Click on Podcast below to watch his latest instalment demonstrating how to make . . .

Still looking for inspiration? Why not logon to www.carnation.co.uk where you can look through a variety of Phil's tasty recipes and download the pudcasts.

PUDCASTS

To stop the spread of pudding paranoia and encourage the nation to rediscover its taste for homemade puddings, today, celebrity chef Phil Vickery launches a series of Pudcasts; a monthly series of six podcasts showing you how to create simple, yet impressive, desserts. Let's face it, even cook books aren't fool-proof, but you'll be hard pressed to go wrong when you've got the step-by-step directions on a screen right in front of your eyes! So why not harness the power of technology and watch one of Phil's pudcasts - you can't go wrong!

WHAT YOU GOT COOKIN'?

Cooking's not just about the end result. According to Phil, as well as missing out on the delicious taste of authentic homemade cooking, people are passing up the opportunity to experience the psychological benefits of making something for themselves. Creating your own mouth-watering pudding can be extremely rewarding, especially if cooking for family and friends. To see others really enjoying something you have prepared from scratch can leave you with a real sense of satisfaction and pride.

RHUBARB AND CUSTARD POTS

"Forced rhubarb is available usually from late December to late March – produced using specially cultivated plants which are grown by candlelight, the resulting fruit is tender and bright pink in colour. Look out for it in supermarkets during these months." ~ Phil Vickery

Ingredients

Zest and juice 1 orange
1½tbsp sugar
500g (1lb 2oz) rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
140g (5oz) Carnation Condensed Milk Light
300ml (½pt) water
4 rounded tsp custard powder
6tbsp half fat crème fraîche

Method

• Place the rhubarb in a pan with the orange juice and sugar. Cook until soft and pulpy.

• Cool then chill for 30 minutes.
  
  

• Meanwhile make the custard; place the condensed milk and water into a pan and whisk together over a moderate heat.

• Mix the custard powder with a little cold water to make a paste then add into the pan and whisk until smooth.

• Turn up the heat and cook the custard until thickened.

• Leave to cool then cover with parchment paper (this will prevent a skin forming on the custard) and chill for at least 30 minutes.

• When ready to serve, mix the crème fraîche into the custard and beat until smooth.

• Place the cooled rhubarb into dishes and top with the creamy custard, serve with a lavender biscuit.

Tips:

• There are endless ways to decorate your cakes – find natural colourings, shimmery edible glitter and sprinkles in all good supermarkets and specialist cake shops.

• For a really special occasion; decorate with sugared rose petals by simply dipping fresh rose petals in egg white, dusting with sugar and leaving to dry out overnight.

• For a chocolate frosting – beat 3 tbsp cocoa powder into the icing listed above.

• See the Carnation little lemon fairy cakes for lemon water icing or try orange and lemon zest and juice.

• If you want to make smaller cakes – place fairy cake cases into bun tins – this mixture should make 15-18 fairy cakes. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes.

Makes 4

LAVENDAR BISCUITS

Ingredients

175g (6oz) butter
175g (6oz) lavender sugar
8tbsp Carnation Condensed Milk Light
1 egg, beaten
175g (6oz) plain flour
115g (4oz) self raising flour

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C, 375°F, Gas Mark 4.

• Beat the butter, sugar and condensed milk until pale and creamy.

• Beat in the egg, then sift in the flours.

• Work with a spoon and then your hands to form a soft dough.

• Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

• Roll out the dough on a floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin.

• Cut into shapes using a biscuit cutter.

• Transfer the biscuits to parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes.

• Leave to cool and dust with sugar.

Makes 24

www.carnation.co.uk

Published 22 March 2010

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