rhubarb meringues with ginger cream

With spring time comes two of my favourite foods; asparagus and rhubarb. I've always found the best way to make the most of rhubarb is to make a sweet and tangy compote, it's perfect for meringues and a dollop of ginger cream. I spotted a bunch of bright pink young rhubarb in the supermarket which makes this desert look even more wonderful, but you can always cheat it with a few drops of pink food colouring. 

Rhubarb compote

400g rhubarb 

juice of half a lemon (or orange)

50g caster sugar

one piece of finely sliced stem ginger

Place chopped rhubarb in a medium-sized saucepan with the lemon juice, caster sugar, a tbsp of water and the sliced ginger. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for five minutes if you want rhubarb pieces still intact or ten to fifteen minutes for a sauce consistency. 

Ginger cream

2tbsp ginger syrup 

400ml whipping cream

Just whip up the cream with the syrup until it's at the thickness you're after. Easy. 

Meringues

3 egg whites
150g caster sugar

Heat oven to 110°c. Tip the egg whites into the clean bowl of the food mixer and whisk until the whites double in volume and hold a peak when the whisk is drawn through them. Keep the whisk running and add the sugar one tbsp at a time and whisk until stiff peaks form and the whites are glossy. The easiest way to check if it's ready is to take a small amount and rub it between your fingertips, if you can still feel sugar granules then keep whisking until they've dissolved. 

Use a star shaped tip on a piping bag and dip a pastry brush into pink colour paste, then paint two to three large stripes from the tip to the top of the bag. Dollop your meringue mixture gently into the piping bag and swirl out nest shapes onto a parchment lined baking tray (watch this video as a guide).  Bake for two hours until they are crisp and can be lifted straight off the paper and then leave to cool on a wire rack before assembling the whole lot together. I find the best way is to fill the centre of the nests with the cream and drizzle the compote all around the sides. 

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brookies

Yesterday I finally got round to making brookies (a cross between brownies and cookies) after weeks of wanting to give them a go. They were ridiculously simple and easy to make, the dough itself takes about four minutes using an electric whisk to make up and then after a couple of hours chilling in the fridge they take just ten minutes to bake. I got the idea from seeing the recipe over on Lily's blog, so I've copied in the same method here but have halved the quantities as I found this way it made around 30 cookies which was more than enough. The only change I'd suggest is leaving your dough to rest once it's out of the fridge for around ten minutes or so, and put small truffle sized amounts onto the baking tray. 

Ingredients:

42g good quality cocoa powder

200g caster sugar

62ml vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

125g plain flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

30g icing sugar

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the cocoa, casted sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 180 d c gas mark 4. Line baking trays with parchment. Pour icing sugar onto a plate using a metal tablespoon, spoon and roll mixture into 2.5cm balls coating each one with the icing sugar before placing onto prepared trays.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let them stand on the baking tray for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool. 

They turned out so damn tasty that I ended up eating ten in just one day, oops. 

barcelona: places to eat and drink

eyescream and friends |

This cool little ice cream shop is minutes away from the beach and sells monster looking treats. Quite literally putting eyes on (ice)cream. When buying a portion you get to also choose two lots of toppings and the ice cream comes in a bowl big enough to fill up any appetite. From what I remember I think the prices were around €4 for the ice cream and €2.50 for a lollipop.

Location: Passeig Don Joan Borbó Comte, 30, 08003 

Chök |

This place was my absolute favourite find of the whole trip. The windows are stuffed with beautiful fresh doughnuts and krönuts (halfway between a croissant and doughnut) filled with every flavour you can imagine. I was torn between nutella or passionfruit and pistachio, but in the end opted for a nutella krönut. It was so damn good that I'm still craving another one even now. Inside the shop are tons of tasty treats that had I been on my own would have kept me in there for hours.

Location: Carrer del Carme, 3, 08001

Vioko |

I didn't have chance to pop inside but wanted to feature this place anyway as after having a quick google I found out that it's filled with macaroons and chocolates, along with fancy ice cream. 

Location: Passeig Don Joan Borbó Comte Barcelona, 55, 08003 

Las Fritas |

Another trendy food joint based along the main strip before you get to the beach is Las Fritas, where you can buy a load of chips with pretty much any sauce and toppings that you fancy. I went for a medium sized cone with aioli and fried padron peppers which were absolutely yummy. 

Location: Passeig Don Joan Borbó Comte Barcelona, 12, 08003 

La Pepita |

Also another wonderful looking restaurant that I didn't have time to pop into but have heard great things about. There are endless amounts of tapas dishes and cocktails on the menu and they are pretty much always full which is the best sign. 

Location: Carrer de Còrsega, 343, 08037

Patagonia |

On our first night in Barcelona we ended up in one of the greatest bars I've ever been in, it was lively even on a Monday night and had the most hilarious bar staff who made it their duty to make sure everyone made new friends in the bar. If you're out drinking in Barcelona then you simply have to go here, their mojitos are particularly tasty too. 

Location: La Rambla, 116

A few things I'd recommend ordering when you are out and about are cava sangria, fried padron peppers and of course give tapas a go too.

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