friederike's Reviews
4 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 4Sort by: Title 
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Tender: Volume II, A cook's guide to the fruit garden
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate - 2010
A Deeply Appley Apple Crumble : page 673
Such a typical Slater-title, isn't it? This is a fairly simple, straight-forward crumble recipe. I liked that the amount of crumble was sufficient - often there is too little crumble for too much fruit. I would have wished that the apples had been just a bit sweeter and more caramelised, they were just a bit too sour for my taste.
We added blackberries, but they were hardly noticeable, unfortunately. We served the apple crumble with the cardamom cream from Roast Figs and Plums in Vodka with Cardamom Cream, a perfect match!
9 April 2013:
Apparently we used a larger dish this time, as there was too little crumble. Also, it turned out a bit dry.
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Cinnamon Panna Cotta with Spiced Roast Rhubarb : page 1134
The panna cotta was nice, but not 'panna' (creamy) enough - I think that what I most disliked was the addition of Greek yoghurt - the change in consistency just wasn't worth the few calories saved. Also, I didn't taste any cinnamon in the panna cotta, though the vanilla was distinct and enjoyable. Next time I will probably use my basic Panna Cotta recipe.
The rhubarb was nice too, but far too much orangy! And I even only used a very small orange. I would suggest to use only haf an orange (both zest and juice) and see how that goes. I substituted the aniseed with fresh ground cardamom, which worked well. Again, the cinnamon (and the rhubarb!) was hardly noticeable.
I just tried to mix all ingredients together, but as the honey wasn't exactly very liquid I had a hard time. It would probably help dissolving the honey in the orange juice first (place in a jam glass and shake, always works perfect for me!).
If you're interested in more rhubarb-with-orange-recipes, it seems to be a combination favoured by Slater. See this article, Little Rhubarb Tarts and Rhubarb and Blood Orange Compote. Speaking of rhubarb, we made a very nice Apple Rhubarb Crumble last week, and I'll make a Rhubarb Crumble from this book tomorrow (to be reviewed on Sunday). Clearly, the rhubarb-season has started again!
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Soo delicious! The flavour of the quinces was pretty strong, too strong for the pork actually, which is why this recipe doesn't get 5 stars. However, this might have been due to the variety used, which looked and smelled slightly different from those I (think I) remember.
Also, I made the gravy slightly thicker than instructed to get a nice not-too-runny gravy. This of course meant that there was less gravy; next time I would make more gravy, and perhaps use more Marsala as I hardly tasted it.
The pork was wonderful, juicy and soft, just the crust could have been crunchier. 3 kg meat for 6 persons is too much, even including bones. We had 1,3 kg for 4 persons, and that was more than enough.
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Soft Quinces under a Crisp Crust : page 1071
... hereforth known as 'Qumble' (or 'Quumble'?)...
This was a really nice dish. It's not a lot work, though peeling and cutting the quinces is always more than you'd expect it to be, but the best thing is that you can prep it so that all you need to do is just pop it in the oven (once the quinces are cooked you won't need to worry about them turning brown).
The recipe didn't mention whether or not you would need to cover the quinces while they cook; I believe they do need to be covered. I covered them partly, and found that they were close to being burnt after only 15 minutes. So close the lid, check regularly and perhaps add a little water (I also thought they tasted a little dry, which is no wonder when all the liquids had evaporated, but I was the only one at the table who thought that). The quinces might not need to cook the full 25 min anyway, but if you prepare them in advance, it's best to cook them till they are really soft, and add an extra 5 min baking time to warm them up.
I made these in a wide 32 cm pan, and I felt it could have used a little more crumble, but again, I was the only one at the table who thought so. Definitely serve with something on the side, ice cream or something like that.
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