Seasonal, freeze and borrow!

The only trouble with seasonal fruit and vegetables – particularly if you grow your own - is that you finish up with more than you can use.

Taking rhubarb as an example – I'm lucky that a friend grows it and, in turn, I roast it!

Roasted Rhubarb

Serves 4

550g rhubarb

85g golden caster sugar

Pre-heat your oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6.

Rinse the rhubarb and shake off excess water. Trim the ends and cut the rhubarb into little pieces. Put the rhubarb in a shallow dish or baking sheet with sides, tip the sugar over, toss it then shuffle the rhubarb so it remains in a single layer.

Cover with foil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the foil – the sugar should have dissolved so give everything a shake and roast for another 5 minutes or until tender and the juices are syrupy. Test with a sharp knife, the rhubarb should feel tender, not mushy and kept its shape.

Freeze your roasted rhubarb in containers suitable for two servings. As I'm fond of saying it's easy to pull out more if you need it than waste all your hard work.

If you're serving as a dessert – crumble wins every time. Here's where I recommend “borrowing” a crumble topping recipe I first came across in Nigella's “How to be a Domestic Goddess” - by the way – that tome is 17 years old! The crumble topping is part of Plum and Pecan Crumble p.128.

Crumble topping

Serve 6 with 1kg of rhubarb

150g cold unsalted butter, diced

250g self raising flour

150g demerara sugar

200g pecans, some chopped finely others

left larger or whole

Rub the butter into the flour – you can use a mixer with a flat paddle but your fingers are better. You want texture to the crumb – a clump here and there – not fine. It used to be called “the rubbing in method” - use your thumb and the first two or three fingers to work the butter into the flour. Add the sugar and nuts and it's ready to use.

As English strawberries come into season try a combination of rhubarb and strawberry.

I freeze the crumble mix in bags so it's convenient to pull out whenever you need it – I just love my treasure chest – freezer!

P.s. On a savoury note if you're serving a main course of roast pork, try roasted rhubarb as a condiment – the richness of the pork with the sharpness works wonders.