Rhubarb and Raspberry Flan with Streusel topping – Guest Chef in Belleau Kitchen

as all of my regular readers will know, my mum is a big influence on my cooking and food world in general… nearly all the recipes I forward to you are from her, or adaptations of recipes she has cooked for years and adapted herself… so it’s with great pleasure that I welcome my mum as a guest chef in Belleau Kitchen.

but what to cook… eh mum? well, mum’s a dab hand at pastry, anything pastry, savoury or sweet… very often she’ll make double amounts of pastry and freeze some, so some kind of tart was called for and as it happens Tracey’s rhubarb is on the rise again and this second crop have wielded some gorgeous pink stalks… perfect for a Rhubarb and Raspberry Flan with Streusel topping.

if you’ve never cooked with them before rhubarb and raspberries make excellent bedfellows, the tartness of the rhubarb is complimented by the sharp sweetness of the the raspberries… a little tart with a little sweetie… naughty!  No sugar is used here as the jam and topping make it sweet enough…

Recipe
for the pastry:
8oz Flour
4oz Butter (we used Flora buttery)
1 dessert spoon of sugar
1 beaten egg

for the flan:
rhubarb cut into small chunks
a punnet of raspberries
some jam (we used raspberry but any jam will do)

for the streusel topping:
4oz flour
2oz butter
2oz demarera sugar
lots of cinnamon

1. crumble the butter into the flour, add the sugar and mix, then the egg and a drop of water and bring together into a dough – refrigerate for 30mins
2. pull off 2/3rds of the pastry and roll it out to as thin as humanly possible (you may need to ask your mum to help…) and line a flan dish

3. spread the un-cooked pastry base with jam

4. pack the flan with fruit
5. make the streusel topping by crumbling it all together and then sprinkle evenly onto flan
6. bake on 190c for about 30mins or until topping goes golden

Now, you should (if you’re my mother, or anything like her) have enough pastry left over to make these fabulous Strudel Biscuits… they came from mum’s mum (grandma Jennie) who used to just make them from a new ball of dough but they seem the perfect thing to do with left-over straggles.

1. roll out the dough into a rectangular shape

2. spread with jam (mum insists on Apricot jam but we only had raspberry…)

3. sprinkle with raisins or sultanas and nuts

4. roll up the pastry long ways (again, very tricky, you may need your mum to help…)
5. cut into little segments and lay out on a baking tray, brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar
6. bake on 190c for about 15mins or until golden

so, how about that from my guest chef…. 2 dishes for the price of one… thanks Mum x

…and best of all, now that mum has got in on the action, The Viking wants his turn and will be cooking something fabulous tomorrow night… lucky me!

eat and of course, enjoy!