Hot Dog and Chips

Right, this isn't technically a recipe but if Jamie Oliver can include a Fish Finger sandwich in one of his books than I can write about hot dogs. This might sound like an advert for Quorn but their hot dogs are really good. They actually taste like real hot dogs. Of course whether that makes them really good is a matter of opinion but we love them with lots of onions, mustard and ketchup. I do think that vegetarians have to remember liking hot dogs if they ate meat in their youth to fully appreciate them.

This is what you should do. Slice an onion and slowly fry in oil until golden brown. Then cut some soft white finger rolls of the lowest quality in half and divide the onions between them. You boil the hot dogs in the packet for 10 minutes and once they're done, put them into the rolls and cover with yellow mustard (none of that posh Dijon nonsense!) and ketchup or tomato relish. Serve with oven chips.

Rhubarb Crumble

Paternity leave has given me a bit of spare time to write up some recipes so in between changing Herb's nappies and watching the snooker I managed to find time to make something using the first produce from our garden - rhubarb. Apparently Delia's Waitrose recipe for rhubarb creme brulee has led to a rhubarb shortages across the country. Well there is some in our garden but only enough for a rhubarb crumble for two. I've seen recipes around various food websites which use things like cinnamon, star anise or ginger but when I suggested these to Chayne, she pulled a face so I just went for a classic crumble. And I wouldn't even dare serving it with cream. Custard all the way.

Ingredients
200g Rhubarb
20ml water
120g caster sugar
60g butter
90g flour

Recipe
1) Pre-heat the oven to 200c. Cut the rhubarb into 3cm pieces and place it in your serving dish. Then add the water and 40 grams of the sugar before tossing it all together.

2) You can use a food processor to do this but I like to use my fingers as you get nice little lumps in the crumble mix and it saves on washing up. Cut the chilled butter into cubes, add the flour and rub with your fingers and thumbs until your have a crumble resembling breadcrumbs with a few larger lumps in. Then add the rest of your sugar and mix together. Spoon the crumble mixture over the rhubarb to give it a decent covering. You might not need all of the crumble mixture and it's nice to have the odd but of rhubarb poking out of the top.

3) Put in the oven for 45 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and the rhubarb is bubbling. Give it five minutes so it's not hotter than the sun and serve with custard.