Pudding Club Part 3 - Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

So here's the final installment in the Pudding Club series and I can now reveal that the dessert that I've placed at the top of the pile is the simply fabulous Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade. This recipe comes from Jo Pratt's book, In the Mood for Entertaining: Food for Every Occasion and was just as delicious as it sounds. The meringue was perfectly soft and marshmallowy, just as the title suggests, with just a whiff of crunch on the outside and the rhubarb and cream filling was heavenly. To top it all off, this was probably the easiest of the puddings to make. The meringue and the rhubarb can be prepared several hours in advance so all you need to do at the last minute is whip up the cream, fold in the rhubarb and assemble the roulade. I was a bit concerned that the meringue might be tricky to roll up but it was breeze.

This is a pudding to be eaten as soon as it's assembled if possible and it makes just about the right amount for six people (assuming you're not expecting them to get through three more puddings afterwards!). The leftovers the next day were more than edible but I wouldn't have wanted to keep it any longer than that.

All in all, this pudding was voted a winner by most of the people who tried it and there's no doubt I'll be making it again.

Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

for the meringue

4 large egg whites

175g caster sugar

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sifted icing sugar, for dusting

for the filling

400g trimmed rhubarb

50g caster sugar

200ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon rose water (I didn't have any so left it out)

1) Line a baking tray measuring approximately 35cm x 25cm x 2cm deep with non-stick parchment paper and lightly oil. Preheat the oven to 160c/fan140/gas mark 3.

2) To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then add half the caster sugar and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining sugar and add to the egg whites with the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk until you have a firm, glossy consistency, a bit like shaving foam. This will take a good few minutes. Spoon and spread into the prepared baking tray. Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

3) In the meantime, cut the rhubarb into 3-4cm lengths and place in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning a couple of times with a metal spoon and trying not to let all of the pieces become too mushy.

4) Remove the cooked meringue from the oven and leave to cook in the tin for a few minutes, then carefully turn out on to a piece of baking paper heavily dusted with the icing sugar. Cool completely.

5) Whip the cream with the rose water (if using) until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the rhubarb and then spread over the meringue, leaving a border of about 2cm. Carefully and loosely roll the meringue lengthways into a fat cylinder shape. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.

Serves 6

Rhubarb Yoghurt Jelly

This recipe has been on my pending pile since the summer and now the evenings are drawing in (and aren't they just at a rate of knots?!) I'd thought I dig it out and post it as a reminder of warmer days. This was one of the things I made as part of my Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment when the lovely people at Total supplied me with a VERY large quantity of Greek Yoghurt to play with.

Anyway, this recipe wouldn't get anyone through to the final of Masterchef, in fact it's a bit of a stretch to even call it a recipe. It's an old favourite, though, and certainly worth a mention. To be honest I don't think the greek yoghurt worked as well as regular natural yoghurt as it didn't mix in particularly well. Still tasted good though.

I should say that the following recipe is merely a rough guide - it doesn't matter in the slightest if you have more or less of any of the ingredients.

Rhubarb Yoghurt Jelly

(My Mum passed this recipe on to me - original source unknown)

Approx 400g rhubarb

Caster Sugar

1 pack of jelly - I usually use Strawberry or Raspberry

Approx 150g - 200g plain yoghurt

1) Start by chopping up the rhubarb and stewing it in a saucepan over a low heat until soft. You can a little sugar if you like or if the rhubarb is particularly sharp but the jelly will add its own sweetness later on. Leave to cool.

2) When the rhubarb is cool, make up the jelly in a large dish. Leave it in the fridge for a short while to cool down and begin to set (probably half an hour to an hour).

3) When the jelly is cool just mix in the rhubarb and yoghurt and then return it to the fridge to set completely.

Makes one largeish bowlful.

Delia's Rhubarb & Ginger Brulee

I love rhubarb - in cakes, in puddings or just plain stewed - I'll take as much as you can throw at me. So when I came across this recipe recently I just knew it was for me, particularly as it also includes Greek yoghurt, making it an ideal candidate for my Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment. Thanks again to Total for providing me with such a generous number of samples to play with.

You've probably seen the recent Waitrose campaign involving Heston & Delia on the television and in Waitrose stores. This recipe is one of the ones advertised by Delia and was a great success. The combination of slightly sharp rhubarb, the soft creamy middle and sweet, crunchy sugar on the top was just heavenly. I highly recommend you give this one a try.

You can find the recipe on the Waitrose website, here.

For a couple more of my favourite rhubarb recipes, click on the links below:

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

The recipe that follows is another great vehicle for yoghurt - something I have had a great deal of recently, thanks to the people at Total, who supplied me with a fridge-filling amount with which to experiment. My previous posts on the subject can be found here and here and there's more still to come!

This also happens to be one of my favourite fruit-based cakes. It's moist and sweet and utterly gorgeous while still warm from the oven. It keeps pretty well too, mind, and makes a great pudding with a bit of ice cream on the side.

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

(adapted from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson)

500g/1 lb 2 oz rhubarb

300g/10 1/2 oz caster sugar

150g/5 1/2 oz plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

155g/5 1/2 oz fine cornmeal (polenta)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g/4 1/2 oz unsalted butter, soft

250g/9 oz natural yoghurt, prefarably bio (my greek yoghurt worked just fine)

23cm springform or loose-bottomed tin, greased and lined

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4

2) Wash and dry the rhubarb if necessary, and then trim and cut into 1/2cm slices. Put in a glass or china bowl and cover with 100g of the sugar. Leave to sit for up to half an hour.

3) Mix the flour, bicarb, salt, cinnamon and cornmeal together. With a fork beat together the eggs and vanilla and a small bowl or jug.

4) In a large bowl cream the butter and the rest of the sugar, then gradually add the egg and vanilla mixture, beating while you do. Then add the flour-cornmeal mixture alternately with the yoghurt. Don't overmix.

5) Finally, add the rhubarb and any sugary juices and fold together. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until springy to touch. You may need to cover with foil after about 40 minutes so the top doesn't catch. Leave to cool in the tin for a while before unmoulding.

Serves 8-10

My Big Fat Greek Yoghurt Experiment

I have recently been given the opportunity to sample some Greek yoghurt, thanks to the lovely people at Total. I was more than happy to take them up on their offer and awaited my samples with much excitement. And boy did I get some samples! 20 pots no less, some of which you can see below.

My delivery included Total's 10% fat yoghurt, 0% fat yoghurt and their 2% yoghurt with honey. For more information and loads of yoghurty recipes you might want to take a look at Total's website which you can find here.

So, I've started my experiment with a few simple dessert/sweet recipes.

For me, one of the best uses for yoghurt is served simply with some fruit and, as shown in the picture below, with some granola or museli. You can find the recipe for the granola in the picture here.

Next up, a simple pudding made with layers of rhubarb and yoghurt and topped with some crumbled biscuits. Very nice too, although I could have been more generous with the sugar in the stewed rhubarb.

The following is a Berry Yoghurt Bake - a recipe I had pulled out of a delicious magazine some years ago and put aside in my "to make" file. Quite unusual this one but lovely nonetheless. I liked it warm rather than hot from the oven and Mr Half a Pot said it went down very well with some ice cream on the side.

Berry Yoghurt Bake

(adapted from delicious magazine)

4 medium eggs, beaten

70g clear honey

250g think Greek yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cornflour

200g mixed fresh raspberries and blueberries

Icing sugar, to dust

1) Preheat the oven to 160c/fan 140c/ gas 3

2) Whisk the eggs, honey, yoghurt, vanilla and cornflour together in a bowl.

3) Put half the berries in a 23cm round baking dish and top with the yoghurt mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the berries over the top, then bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until just set. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot or warm.

Serves 4

This final recipe for Mango and Greek Yoghurt Mousse comes from the Total website itself. These little mousse's would make a lovely light summery pudding when you don't want anything too filling. A word of warning though - don't make them too far in advance as I found mine tended to separate a bit after a couple of days.

You can find the recipe here.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb....

Rhubarb is one my favourite fruits (vegetables??) and now that more and more is appearing in the shops I hope to make the most of it and try out a number of rhubarb-based recipes over the next few weeks. If only I could persuade the sad little rhubarb plant in our garden to pull itself together and give us a decent number of stalks each year I'd be a happy bunny. But instead we have to make do with it half-heartedly sending up a couple of feeble efforts before dissapearing back into the ground until the following spring. I do envy people who are overrun with the stuff!

Anyway, this is without a doubt one of my very favourite rhubarb recipes, Rhubarb Meringue Pie from How to Eat by Nigella Lawson. It tastes fabulous and the sweetness of the meringue sets off the tartness of the rhubarb perfectly.

I won't give you the full recipe, suffice to say you need to make up and blind bake a 24cm shortcrust pastry case, using the juice of half an orange to bind the dough together. The filling is then put together as follows:

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

(adapted from How to Eat by Nigella Lawson)

24cm shortcrust pastry case

800g rhubarb, untrimmed weight

juice of 1/2 orange

2 eggs, separated

150g sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

30g melted butter

1) Trim the rhubarb and chop it into roughly 1cm slices. Put in a saucepan with the orange juice and heat briefly, just until the rawness is taken off them. Remove and drain (but keep the liquid).

2) In a bowl mix together the sugar, flour and melted butter. Add the eggs and enough of the rhubarb juices to make a smooth runny paste. Add some more orange juice if needed.

3) Put the rhubarb into the blind baked pastry case and pour the sugary, eggy mixture over. Bake in the oven at 200c/gas mark 6 for 20-30 until just set.

4) Use the egg whites, 120g caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to make a meringue mix. Spread the meringue over the pie, sprinkle with a teaspoon of caster sugar and bake for 15 minutes.